Senator Paul Blocks Bill to Eliminate Per-Country Cap on Employment-Based Green Cards
This article was prepared with the assistance of ABIL, the Alliance of Business Immigration Lawyers, of which Laura Danielson is an active member.
The “Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019” (S. 386), a bill that would eliminate the 7 percent per-country cap (numerical limitation) on employment-based immigrants, among other things, was blocked in the Senate by Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who wants to amend the bill with an accommodation for EB-3 nurses. The legislation is expected to benefit primarily Indian and Chinese workers, who constitute the largest proportion of foreign H-1B skilled workers waiting for years in the green card backlog.
Other recent developments included the addition of provisions strengthening H-1B specialty occupation enforcement by Senators. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa). As of press time, S. 386 had 34 bipartisan co-sponsors; the House version, H.R. 1044, which does not include the H-1B provisions, had 311.
For more information read the Bloomberg Law article, “Green Card Cap Legislation Remains Blocked Despite H-1B Deal” and the Deseret News article, “Conservative Senator Blocks Mike Lee-Kamala Harris Immigration Reform Bill.”