Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act and the Impact on Global Mobility

The U.S. House of Representatives has recently passed a Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R. 1044). This bill would dramatically change the employment green card distribution system. 

Under the previous policy, only seven percent of green cards could be issued in a year to nationals from a given country, regardless of its population. Act H.R. 1044  would eliminate a safeguard that prevents green card numbers from being monopolized by citizens of one or two countries, which is known as the “per country cap.”  By removing the limitations, H.R. 1044 would ensure that the employment-based visas are available to a truly global pool of talent in a wide variety of occupational sectors. In the Senate, some Senators have expressed concerns with the legislation, which makes its passage less certain than in the House.

A Government Affairs updated, published by Worldwide ERC^®,  states, "Passage of the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigration Act would provide employers with more flexibility, as there would be a total number of green cards available regardless of the country, on decisions regarding the relocation of high-skilled employees to the U.S." 

The Worldwide ERC^® Government Affairs Immigration Forum has formed a working group which will draft the comments of Worldwide ERC^® in favor of maintaining the ability of H-4 visa holders to be eligible for employment in the U.S. Worldwide ERC predicts that in the coming months, we are likely to continue to see instances where the Administration and Congress take different approaches to business immigration policy. 

Read the full article here: https://www.worldwideerc.org/news/competing-us-business-immigration-policy-agendas/