This is an important update on the status of legislation in the U.S. Congress to provide relief from the H-1B cap and backlogged immigrant visa quotas.
When we last sent you an alert the Senate had just begun consideration of the proposal as part of a budget reconciliation bill, S. 1932. Thanks to an outpouring of support from businesses, academic institutions, non-profit organizations and others, on November 3 the Senate passed S. 1932 with all of the favorable immigration provisions intact, voting 85-14 on the Senate floor to keep the provision in the legislation.
Just before the Thanksgiving recess, the House passed its version of a budget reconciliation bill, H.R. 4241, which does not include any immigration relief provisions. The next step is for a conference committee of the Senate and House to reconcile the two versions of the bill before it is finalized and sent to the President for signature. Next week Congress will be back in session,and we expect the conference committee to be appointed very soon thereafter.
The Senate proposal would make important changes to the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program and to employment based permanent residence categories that will provide much-needed relief for the H-1B cap and lengthy immigrant visa "priority date" backlogs:
- Recapture of approximately 300,000 unused H-1B visas dating back to 1991, to be used at a rate of 30,000 per year. This will allow the H-1B cap to be "reopened" for this fiscal year for an additional 30,000 new petitions.
- Immediate recapture of an estimated 90,000 unused employment based-visas from prior years. This will have an immediate impact to advance the "priority date" being processed in all backlogged EB categories.
- Exemption of spouses and minor children from counting against the annual employment-based immigrant preference category numerical limits. Estimates are that this would increase the available employment-based immigrant visas by another 80,000-90,000/year. Backing out these numbers from being counted will further advance the"priority date" in all backlogged EB categories.
- Allowing applicants in the U.S. to file for adjustment of status before their priority date for an immigrant visa is actually reached. This will eliminate the need to apply for continuing H-1B extensions, let immediate family members obtain employment authorization while waiting for the process to conclude, and address the problem of children "aging out" of eligibility.
- In exchange for these benefits, the proposal would add certain new filing fees, including a $500 fee on employment-based preference petitions, a $500 fee on petitions for one of the "recaptured" H-1B visas, and a $750 fee on L-1 petitions.
For employers that utilize the employment-based immigration system, this is an incredibly important piece of legislation. It is imperative that interested employers continue to take affirmative steps to support this legislation through their elected representatives in Washington. Now may be the only opportunity to secure these positive changes.The strong campaign of support so far has resulted in success, but the support needs to continue as the bill enters its final phase of consideration.
We are asking all concerned employers who want to see relief from the H-1B cap and relief for severely backlogged employment based permanent residence to take the following actions:
1. Attached is a "sign-on" statement in support of the proposal with the names of over 750 U.S.businesses and universities that was presented to Congress on November 29. If your company’s name is already on the statement in response to our last request, thank you very much, it has made a difference. If your company is not signed on, please consider adding your name. It will be presented to Congress again when the conference committee isset. Please contact one of us at the Foley Hoag LLP Immigration Practice Group, and we will have your company’s name included in the final list presented to Congress.
2. Contact your Senators and Congress person directly to express support of this legislation, if you have not already done so. Tell them how your company and its employees are impacted by H-1B unavailability and by years-long waiting times for permanent residence. Ask them to support the Senate’s immigration relief proposals when the budget reconciliation bill goes to a House-Senate conference committee. You can use the on-line "Contact Congress" Alert function, located here,or find more direct contact information on the web sites of your Senators and Congress persons through http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov.
3. Be prepared to help further when the House-Senate conference committee members are named. If your Congress person or Senator is appointed we will contact you for more direct support.
Thank you for your help. If you have questions please feel free to contact a member of the Foley Hoag LLP Immigration Practice Group.
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