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BACKGROUND
On December 2, 2020 the Senate passed The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act or S.386.
For many years, persons applying for permanent residence in the United States were subject to 7% country caps across immigrant visa categories (family-based, employment-based etc.). This meant that no more than 7% of the total number of visas available could be issued to persons from any one country in a given year.
Consequently, nationals of countries such as India and China were disadvantaged, as the number of persons applying for U.S. permanent residence far exceeded the number of available visas under the country cap system.
This resulted in some persons waiting decades for their green card applications to be processed.
The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act seeks to remedy the challenges of this system by expanding (and in some cases removing) the country caps on immigrant visas.
POTENTIAL OUTCOMES OF THE BILL
Increased cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% to 15%
Elimination of the 7% cap for employment-based immigrant visas
Removal of the offset that limited the number of visas for Chinese nationals
Establishment of transition rules for employment-based visas from fiscal year 2020-2022. Reserving a percentage of EB-2 and EB-3 visas for individuals not from the two countries with the largest number of recipients of such visas. Of the unreserved visas, not more than 85 % will be allotted to immigrants from any single country.
(Source: The American Bazaar)
In July 2019, S.386’s counterpart H.R. 1044 was passed in the House of Representatives. The two bills are awaiting reconciliation before the president approves the final bill.
This controversial bill has elicited strong reactions. Many believe it signals the end of nationality discrimination for countries whose nationals have had to contend with decades-long backlogs.
However, others fear that applications from these countries will overpower the system and create a backlog for the rest of the world.
We assist countless foreign nationals and we will be happy to personally assist you with your application as well. Send us an E-mail or call us at (888)354-6257. For reasons on why you should consult an immigration attorney whenever you have an immigration issue, see our page titled: Reasons Why it is Vital to Use an Immigration Lawyer.
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