US Congress passes H R 1044 bill to help highly skilled immigrants get their Green cards faster

While the US Congress has passed the bill, it faces several hurdles before becoming law

July 11, 2019

US Congress passes H R 1044 bill to help highly skilled immigrants get their Green cards faster

On 10^th July 2019, the U.S House of Representatives passed H.R. 1044 bill, which will help High Skilled Immigrants to get the green card faster. The bill is passed; however, there are a lot of hurdles before it becomes a law[1].

Like most of the bills, this one too has its own pro and cons. The SHRM – the Society for Human Resource Management — has supported this initiative since 2011, also sent a letter to congressional leaders in the February in its support[2].

However, left have their view on the bill; they say that the current ceiling of 7% would be eliminated with this bill in place, which had created large backlogs of would-be migrants from China and India. The bill will raise the employment-based grouping to 15% in the family-based migration categories.

The bill favors majorly four groups:

The High-tech
- It will allow a large number of Indian nationals who are now on their payrolls as H-1B temporary workers to get green cards.
- some of the unrest currently in H-1B ranks will dampen down as Indian and Chinese aliens with these visas have scraped at the length of time to the green card.
- some H-1Bs have moved on to Canada and other nations with shorter waiting periods quote some reports.
Big City Developers

- With this bill, Chinese investors anxieties will be soothed who get a family-sized set of green cards for their half-million-dollar investment
- It will allow the users of the EB-5 program to continue to raise most of their money in China, as opposed to having to set up EB-5 attracting programs in other parts of the globe. The big city (notably Manhattan) real estate developers in the EB-5 program.

Rich Chinese

- The EB-5 program visa seekers will be big winners since they will get their green cards much sooner.
- In many cases avoid the problem of their older children “ageing out” of the program, as they reach their 21st birthday.

Upper Crust

- Those with enough money to get a college degree, either there or here (with the system tilting toward those with U.S. masters’ degrees) would, similarly, have less waiting time in the H-1B status to the issuance of green cards.
- Within the large class of Indians in the H-1B program, those favoured by this law are those also well-regarded by their employers, otherwise, they would not have filed for the green cards, so it is not all H-1Bs who are getting a break, it is those that employers favour. (There are no such complications in the EB-5 program, all EB-5 visa holders from a given nation are treated the same.)

Partial Gainers/Losers

There is a distinction in the bill between the elimination of the country of origin ceiling of 7% for the employment-based categories, and the substitution of 15% for 7% among the family-based migrants which are largely overlooked. Which means that the Indians and the Chinese the priority while the others are overlooked in the EB categories? But there is a similar partial benefit for the backlogged folk from Mexico and the Philippines. In a nutshell, Chinese, Indians and a few Vietnamese are more important than Mexican Nationals and Filipinos, and all six groups are superior to all other would-be immigrants.

Who Will Not Benefit and How?

American Workers are the biggest losers of these programs. The H1-B strengthening program will ensure lesser citizens and green card holders are hired for reasonably well-paying Jobs.
EB-5 investors predominantly provide finances without lien to big city developers and they get 1-2% of returns for their money. while the market rate is as high as 10%. therefore, American investors are shunned by EB-5 investors.
Both in the employment-based and family-based migrant categories for every HR-1044 favoured potential migrant, who would get a Visa faster, there is a non-favoured potential migrant who will have to wait much longer than previous waiting period.

References:

[1] Congress.GOV

[2] SHRM Statement on U.S. House Passage of Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act July 10 2019,SHRM

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