U.S. lawmakers pass bill to remove green card limit

Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the bill, once enacted, would significantly reduce the distressing wait for talented professionals from countries like India seeking permanent work permits and U.S. residency permits.

Washington:
U.S. lawmakers passed a bill to lift the seven per cent per country green card limit, a breakthrough that would benefit thousands of highly skilled Indian professionals.

A green card allows a person to live and work permanently in the United States.

Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the bill, once enacted, would significantly reduce the anguishing wait for talented professionals from countries such as India seeking permanent work and residency permits in the United States.

Entitled the fairness of Highly Skilled immigrants Act, 2019, HR 1044, the bill was passed by the 435-member House of Commons with an overwhelming majority of 365 to 65 votes.

Under the current system, out of the total number of family-based immigration visas that the United States must issue in a given year, citizens of a country may be granted up to seven per cent of those visas. The new draft law aims to raise this limit from 7% per country to 15%.

Similarly, it also aims to remove the 7% country-by-country limit on employment-based immigration visas. It also removes a time lag that reduces the number of visas for people from China.

The bill also establishes transition rules for employment-based visas from AF 2020-2022 by reserving a percentage of EB-2 (workers with higher or exceptional degrees), EB-3 (skilled and other workers) and EB-5 (investors). visas for persons from countries other than the two countries which obtain the largest number of such visas.

According to another provision of the bill, no more than 85% of the unrestricted visas would be granted to immigrants from all countries.

However, before the bill can be passed by the president of the United States, it must be passed by the Senate, which has a majority of Republicans.

An identical bill sponsored by Senators Kamala Harris and Mike Lee is expected to pass soon. Senate bill s-386 currently has 34 co-authors.

Congressman John Curtis said the bill would create a first-come, first-served system, bringing certainty to workers and families and allowing American businesses to flourish and compete in a global economy to create products, services and jobs, regardless of where they are born.

If President Donald Trump "is serious about legal immigration based on merit, he should help get this bill passed into law," said MP Zoe Lofgren.

The passage of the bill has been hailed by Indian professionals from across the United States, particularly those from Silicon Valley in California, Seattle in Washington State, Greater Washington DC and the three states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The Department of Homeland Security, however, stated that it did not support the bill.
"This bill would do nothing to move the current employment-sponsored system towards a more merit-based system," said Joseph S. Joh, deputy director and senior advisor in the Legislative Affairs Office of the Department of Homeland Security.

The largest US computer companies welcomed the passage of the bill and urged the Senate to do so as soon as possible.

"Today, the U.S. House passed legislation to ensure green card processing for citizens of all countries. This promotes a fair and highly skilled immigration system that benefits businesses and our economy," said Microsoft President Brad Smith. .

"This bill will help ensure that people seeking permanent residence do not have to wait extraordinarily long periods - 50 years or more for nationals of countries like India and China - simply because of their country of origin," said the minister. The president of FWD.US, Todd Schulte, welcomed the adoption of the FHSI law.

FWD.US is an advocacy organization representing the largest companies in Silicon Valley, including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and DropBox.

"Eliminating the 'per country' ceilings for employment-based green cards and increasing the ceilings for family-based green cards will make the system fairer to immigrant families and strengthen the ability of the United States to recruit and retain the best global talent by establishing a fair and predictable path to permanent legal status, " he said.

The American Hindu Foundation also welcomed the adoption of the law.