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Bill would handle employment-based immigration backlog

On Behalf of | Apr 7, 2021 | Immigration |

New Jersey businesses that rely on the skill of foreign workers are just some of the many businesses that are standing behind the new immigration bill. This immigration bill would help to deal with the employment-based immigration backlog that has gotten way out of control. With current standards, there is a backlog for employment-based green card applications for countries like India and China that would take decades and even centuries to complete.

Upgrading from a temporary status

Many immigrants enter the country through either an L-1 or H-1B immigration visa. These are considered the intracompany transferee visas and are only temporary. If immigrants want to stay within the United States, they will have to obtain an employment-based immigration visa. This is commonly referred to as a green card or permanent residence card.

Existing government cap limits

The government has set specific standards in the past regarding how many immigrants can receive green cards and what percentage of them can be from a specific country. The golden number is up to 7% of the overall approved green cards for the year may be given to immigrants from one country.

One of the biggest issues with the current immigration system is the fact that U.S. companies are finding that highly skilled workers are mainly from India and China. With caps currently on the number of immigrants from these countries that are allowed green cards, they max out every year. However, green card applications allotted for other countries with less-skilled workers are going unused.

With wait times being decades and even centuries for immigrants to obtain permanent residence in the United States, many companies are starting to notice a major decline in available highly skilled workers. If the new immigration bill gets passed, it will help to remove some of the cap limits that are on green cards and allow more highly skilled immigrants to obtain permanent residence within a reasonable amount of time. Only time will tell if lawmakers will be willing to accept this new immigration policy or not.

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