CIR Outline 2: Employment Green Card
- On the employment green card categories, the bill exempts the following categories from the annual numerical limits on employment-based immigrants: derivative beneficiaries of employment-based immigrants; aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics; outstanding professors and researchers; multinational executives and managers; doctoral degree holders in STEM field; and physicians who have completed the foreign residency requirements or have received a waiver.
- The bill then allocates 40 percent of the worldwide level of employment-based visas to :
- members of the professions holding advanced degrees or their equivalent whose services are sought in the sciences, arts, professions, or business by an employer in the United States (including certain aliens with foreign medical degrees) and
- aliens who have earned a master’s degree or higher in a field of science, technology, engineering or mathematics from an accredited U.S. institution of higher education and have an offer of employment in a related field and the qualifying degree was earned in the five years immediately before the petition was filed.
- The bill increases the percentage of employment visas for skilled workers, professionals, and other professionals to 40 percent, maintains the percentage of employment visas for certain special immigrants to 10 percent and maintains visas for those who foster employment creation to 10 percent.
- The bill creates a startup visa for foreign entrepreneurs who seek to emigrate to the United States to startup their own companies.
- Merit Based Visa: The merit based visa, created in the fifth year after enactment, awards points to individuals based on their education, employment, length of residence in the US and other considerations. Those individuals with the most points earn the visas. Those who access the merit based pathway to earn their visa are expected to be talented individuals, individuals in our worker programs and individuals with family here. 120,000 visas will be available per year based on merit. The number would increase by 5% per year if demand exceeds supply in any year where unemployment is under 8.5%. There will be a maximum cap of 250,000 visas.
- Under one component of this merit based system the Secretary will allocate merit-based immigrant visas beginning on October 1, 2014 for employment-based visas that have been pending for three years, family-based petitions that were filed prior to enactment and have been pending for five years, long-term alien workers and other merit based immigrant workers.
- Long –term alien workers and other merit based immigrant workers includes those who have been lawfully present in the United States for not less than ten years and who are not admitted as a W visa under section 101(a)(15)(W) of the Act.
- Between fiscal years 2015 and 2021, the Secretary shall allocate a seventh of the total number of those with employment based visas that have been pending on the date of enactment. Petitions for spouses and children of permanent residents who are accorded status under the INA are automatically converted to petitions to accord status as immediate relatives.
- Between fiscal years 2015 and 2021, the Secretary shall follow a specific formula to allocate visas to those with family based petitions pending on the date of enactment and subject to some restrictions visas should be authorized in the order petitions were filed.
- In fiscal year 2022, the Secretary of State shall allocate visas to half the number of those that filed family based petitions after the date of enactment and had not had a visa issued by October 2021.
- In fiscal year 2023, the visas should be allocated to the other half of those that filed family based petitions after the date of enactment and who had not had a visa issued by October 2021. Visas allocated for these family based petitions will be issued based on the order in which petitions were filed.
Full Outline of Senate Immigration Act of 2013
