Comprehensive Immigration Reform is heating up. The Gang of Eight published a bill in April that is the first significant step in immigration legislation. MU Law has been to Washington to discuss the bill with Congressional staff.
The bill is 850+ pages and will be amended many times before it ever come up for a vote. While the final version is still a work in progress and it is still an open question as to whether CIR will ever pass, several things are becoming clear. If CIR becomes law it will have these characteristics.
Greater H-1B visa numbers. Current law allows 65,000 new “regular”H-1B visa approvals every fiscal year and an additional 20,000 for graduates ofAmerican Master’s degree programs. American businesses haveregularly asked Congress to raise this H-1B quota. Congress is hearing the call. Most potential legislation calls forincreased H-1B numbers.
Increased H-1BEnforcement. The trade-off for thegreater H-1B numbers is greater enforcement regulation. Allversions of CIR step up funding for H-1B enforcement.
Special Third PartyPlacement Rules for H-1B Employers. Since January 2012, USCIS has held staffing companies to a higher level of scrutiny. Congress is now going further. Placing employees atthird-party worksites is outright prohibited for some employers and highly regulated in others.
Abundant Green CardNumbers. By increasing green cardnumbers, Congress hopes to incentive future employers and workers to adhereto immigration regulation. For theindustry this should mean faster green cards and less worrying about quotas.
E-Verify is here tostay. E-verify is a federal programwhereby voluntary employers can check a prospective employee’s workauthorization. Government contractorsand some states have made E-verify mandatory. Congress appears ready torequire E-verify for all employers, likely phasing it in over a few years.
Shifting from FamilyBased Visa Numbers to Merit Based Immigrants. One part of the CIR plan is that Congress appears to have settled on a merit-based greencard. A merit-based system would allowthe Department of Homeland Security to weigh a number of factors, such aseducation, job prospects, US ties, and English fluency to prioritize anapplicant’s visa. The merit based systemwill come at the expense of the family categories and will eliminate the visalottery program.
