Summary of Immigration Innovation Act of 2013

• Employment-Based Nonimmigrant H-1B Visas
  
  
  
  • Increase H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000
  
  
  • Establish a market-based H-1B escalator, so that the cap can adjust ¡V up or down ¡V to the demands of the economy (includes a 300,000 ceiling on the ability of the escalator to move)
    
    
    
    • If the cap is hit in the first 45 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 20,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately.
    
    
    • If the cap is hit in the first 60 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 15,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately.
    
    
    • If the cap is hit in the first 90 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 10,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately.
    
    
    • If the cap is hit during the 185-day period ending on the 275th day on which petitions may be filed, and additional 5,000 H-1B will be made available immediately.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Uncap the existing U.S. advanced degree exemption (currently limited to 20,000 per year)
  
  
  • Authorize employment for dependent spouses of H-1B visa holder
  
  
  • Increase portability of high skilled foreign workers by:
    
    
    
    • Removing impediments and costs of changing employers;
    
    
    • Establishing a clear transition period for foreign workers as they change jobs; and,
    
    
    • Restoring visa revalidation for E, H, L, O, and P nonimmigrant visa categories
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Student Visas
  
  
  
  • Allow dual intent for foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities to provide the certainty they need to ensure their future in the United States
  
  
  
  


• Immigrant Visas and Green Cards
  
  
  
  • Enable the recapture of green card numbers that were approved by Congress in previous years but were not used
  
  
  • Exempt certain categories of persons from the employment-based green card cap:
    
    
    
    • Dependents of employment-based immigrant visa recipients
    
    
    • U.S. STEM advance degree holders
    
    
    • Persons with extraordinary ability
    
    
    • Outstanding professors and researchers
    
    
    • Provide for the roll-over of unused employment-based immigrant visa numbers to the following fiscal year so future visas are not lost due to bureaucratic delays
    
    
    • Eliminate annual per-country limits for employment based visa petitioners
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• U.S. STEM Education & Worker Retraining Initiative
  
  
  
  • Reform fees on H-1B visas and employment-based green cards; use money from these fees to fund a grant program to promote STEM education and worker retraining to be administered by the states.