House passes bill to increase H-1B visas: Senate chances dim

The line for visas at the US Embassy in Manila.

Almost lost amidst the news swirling around the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal, the citizenship question on the Census, and the pending ICE raids, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R.1044) on Wednesday (July 10) which would change the way H-1B visas are apportioned to each country.

The legislation addresses the decades-long wait times for applicants from places like India, China, or the Philippines by eliminating caps for employment-based visas and raising the family visa cap from 7 percent to 15 percent. 

However, the Senate version will likely go down in flames.

“In order for American industries to remain competitive and create more jobs, they must be able to recruit and retain the best talent in the world,” said the bill's sponsor, said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who represents part of Silicon Valley.

Many of the impacted applicants already live and work in America and are doctors, engineers, and scientists who studied in American universities. They have faced decades-long wait times for permanent residence and as a result, have decided to relocate to other countries, subsequently hurting the future of the U.S. economy. 

This is especially good news for Silicon Valley, where around seven in 10 workers are foreign-born. With the limit abolished, Indians, the largest cohort of the H-1B visa recipients with green card wait times ranging between a long 12 and an aggravating 150 years, stand to reap the biggest benefits.

New American Economy (NAE) issued the following statement in support of the legislation:

“This legislation is an important step in creating an immigration system that allows the most talented workers to work in the United States,” said John Feinblatt, President of New American Economy. “We applaud the House for taking action and urge the Senate to follow suit and remove undue barriers that restrict the U.S. economy from reaching its full potential.”

New research from New American Economy finds that:

• Indian, Chinese, Filipino, and Vietnamese immigrants are disproportionately affected by country caps and the backlog in permanent residency applications. Of the nearly 400,000 green card applications that were in the backlog as of April 2018, over 95 percent hailed from India, China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. 

• Immigrants from countries most directly affected by the current per-country cap are well-educated. Nearly 80 percent of Indian immigrants have bachelor’s degrees and more than 27 percent of Chinese immigrants have advanced degrees.

• The immigrants who may be positively impacted by this legislation will contribute substantially to the American economy. Indian immigrant households earned nearly $162.6 billion and paid more than $50.0 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2017, and Chinese immigrant households earned nearly $116.9 billion in 2017 and paid more than $34.9 billion in taxes. Filipino and Vietnamese immigrants also made significant contributions to the U.S. economy, paying more than $20.5 billion $11.9 billion in taxes respectively and holding more than $53.5 billion and $33.2 billion in spending power respectively

SOURCE: USCIS

Aman Kapoor, the Co-Founder and President of Immigration Voice stated that:
“Immigration Voice is absolutely thrilled that the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act has received this overwhelming bipartisan support and vote of confidence from the members of the House of Representatives.  ... The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act is a win-win for the American people. It will grow our economy by allowing highly skilled immigrants to start their own companies and will make sure that these new companies hire American workers who are made more attractive by this bill.

Critics of the bill fear that it will allow one country, India in particular, to dominate the visa for decades to come, something that Lofgren admits will occur. She said it would take a decade under her legislation before visa applications would even out.

The Philippines, India and Vietnam would also benefit if the bill passes that doubles the percentage of visas allowed for family reunification, from 7% to 15%. Currently, there are about 336,000 on the wait list, which amounts about a 23 year wait for a visa under this category.

The GOP-dominated Senate will vote on its version of the Bill, S. 386, where it faces only a 4% chance of passage according to govtrack.com. 

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