Recent Developments of Immigration Reform

In June 2013, the US Senate voted 68-32 to pass a historic immigration reform bill which will not only legalize 11 million undocumented, but also dramastically incease the number of H-1B visas and green cards for skilled foreign workers. 

However, the reform bill has been stuck in the House of Representatives since then. If no action is taken in coming months, we will still have only 85,000 cap-subject H-1B visa for next year. 

1.The President: I'll Act on my Own Agenda!
President Obama vowed to use his executive authority to usher in a "year of action" even if Congress remains gridlocked. At a recent Cabinet meeting, he said he would talk to agency heads about using "all the tools available to us, not just legislation, in order to advance" his policy priorities. 

In the summer of 2012, this president issued Dream Act executive order which stops the deportation of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States before they turned 16 years old and grants them work-authorization papers. 

2. The House Democrat: Co-Sponsors for Democratic Immigration Reform Bill reached 195.
On October 2, 2013, Democrats in the House proposed an immigration reform bill(H.R.15), which is very similar to S.744, the bipartisan bill passed by the Senate. The co-sponsor of this bill has reached 195 last week, including some Republican representatives. Only 218 votes are needed to pass this bill, but the House majority leaders just refuse to give it a chance to vote. 

3. The House Republican: Scheduled to release their "Principles" of immigration reform.
According to a recent NFAP report, following are Republican principals related work visa:

• Increase the employment-based green card quota beyond the current 140,000 a year limit, counting only principals toward the quota, eliminate the per country limit for employment-based immigrants and exempt from the annual limit foreign nationals with a master's degree or higher from a U.S. university in a STEM field.


• Increase the annual H-1B visa cap and expand current exemptions from the cap for highly skilled foreign nationals.


• Establish a visa category for immigrant entrepreneurs.


• Create a temporary visa category for agriculture that is far easier to use than the current H-2A category.


• Establish a temporary work visa category that will allow full-year (as opposed to seasonal) work in the jobs typically held by unauthorized immigrants in fields like construction and hospitality.

Stay turned, we will report new developments on our FaceBook page and Immigration blog. 

U.S. employers are expected to file more than 150,000 H-1B visa petitions in the first week of April. It is time for you to update your career profile and pitch potential employers now!