Two identical legislations backed by top companies from the Silicon Valley like Google have been introduced in the US House of Representatives and Senate to end the per-country limit on green cards which could benefit thousands of Indian professionals who are waiting to gain permanent legal residency if signed into law.
On Wednesday, in the Senate, Republican Mike Lee and Democratic presidential aspirant Kamala Harris introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, a bill that would remove per-country cap for employment-based green cards. An identical bill named Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 1044) was tabled in the US House of Representatives by Congressman with co-sponsorship of a bipartisan group of 112 Congressmen.
If passed by Congress and signed into law, the legislations would prove benefitial to thousands of Indian professionals on H-1B visas whose current wait time for permanent legal residency is more than a decade. The H-1B visa which is most sought-after among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
Having a Green Card (officially known as a Permanent Resident Card) allows a person to live and work permanently in the United States. The United States makes currently 140,000 green cards available every year to employment-based immigrants, including many who first come here on temporary H-1B or L visas.
Co-sponsored by 13 more Senators, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act increases the per-country caps for family-sponsored green cards from seven per cent to 15 per cent. Without adding any new green cards, it creates a “first-come, first-served” system that alleviates the backlogs and allows green cards to be awarded more efficiently. “Immigrants should not be penalised due to their country of origin,” Lee said.
Aman Kapoor, co-founder and president of Immigration Voice has welcomed the move. “It would help to grow our economy by allowing highly skilled immigrants to start their own companies and hire American workers. And, it will finally remove the last vestiges of discrimination from our high-skilled immigration system”, Kapoor said.