Close X
Friday, December 20, 2024
ADVT 
International

Senator Moves Amendments To Immigration Reform To Reduce Green Card Backlog

The Canadian Press, 15 Feb, 2018 11:55 AM
    In a move aimed at bringing in the issues of green card backlog and H-1B visa, a top American lawmaker has moved amendment to a White House-backed immigration bill that mostly focuses on illegal immigration and merit-based immigration.
     
     
    The amendments, moved by Senator Orrin Hatch, aim to eliminate annual per-country limits for employment-based green cards so that applicants from more populous countries are not unfairly discriminated against relative to applicants from less populous countries.
     
     
    “I have long said that high-skilled immigration is merit-based immigration,” Hatch said after moving the amendments on Wednesday.
     
     
    It increases worker mobility for individuals on the path to a green card by enabling such individuals to change jobs earlier in the process without losing their place in the green card line.
     
     
    It also codifies existing regulations regarding spousal work authorisation and post-education practical training.
     
     
    The amendments exempt holders of US master’s degrees or higher who are being sponsored for green cards from the annual numerical limitations on H-1B visas and subjects employers who fail to employ an H-1B worker for more than three months during the individual’s first year of work authorisation to a penalty.
     
     
    Also, it further updates the 1998 law exempting H-1B-dependent employers from certain recruitment and non-displacement requirements.
     
     
    In particular, the amendment raises from USD 60,000 to USD 100,000 the H-1B salary level at which the salary-based exemption takes effect, narrows education-based exemption to H-1B hires with a US PhD, and eliminates exemption for “super-dependent” employers altogether.
     
     
    “It’s immigration targeted at the best, the brightest, and the most highly educated. The amendments, I filed today, are focused, commonsense reforms that will make a real difference for our economy,” Hatch said.
     
     
    “In particular, they will help streamline the process by which a worker with in-demand technical skills can obtain a green card and will cut back on some of the troubling abuses we have seen with the H-1B programme. These are important reforms that can attract broad support, and I intend to pursue every opportunity to include them in the pending immigration bill,” the lawmaker said.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    India Can Help Us Keep An Eye On Pakistan, Says Nikki Haley

    India Can Help Us Keep An Eye On Pakistan, Says Nikki Haley
    India can help the US keep an eye on Pakistan as President Donald Trump has “taken tougher approach to Islamabad harbouring terrorists”, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haleyhas said.

    India Can Help Us Keep An Eye On Pakistan, Says Nikki Haley

    'US Seals Were Ready For Osama-like Raid If Pak Failed To Free Hostages’

    'US Seals Were Ready For Osama-like Raid If Pak Failed To Free Hostages’
    The US Navy Seals were ready to mount an operation inside Pakistan, similar to the covert raid that killed Osama bin Laden, if it failed to act decisively on a US tip off to rescue a Canadian-American family abducted by the Haqqani network in 2012, according to a media report.

    'US Seals Were Ready For Osama-like Raid If Pak Failed To Free Hostages’

    Real Meaning Of Ram Rajya Is Home, Electricity, Cooking Gas For Everyone: Yogi Adityanath In Ayodha

    Real Meaning Of Ram Rajya Is Home, Electricity, Cooking Gas For Everyone: Yogi Adityanath In Ayodha
    Ayodhya gave the concept of Ram Rajya, where there is no poverty, pain, grief or discrimination, says Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath.

    Real Meaning Of Ram Rajya Is Home, Electricity, Cooking Gas For Everyone: Yogi Adityanath In Ayodha

    Rex Tillerson Says US Is 'Reliable Partner' For India, Takes Dig At China

    Rex Tillerson Says US Is 'Reliable Partner' For India, Takes Dig At China
    The United States is India's "reliable partner" at the world stage in this period of uncertainty and angst, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said today, sending a strong signal to side with India amidst China's "provocative actions" in the region.

    Rex Tillerson Says US Is 'Reliable Partner' For India, Takes Dig At China

    Indian-Origin Steel Tycoon LAKSHMI MITTAL Donates $25 Million To Harvard University

    Indian-Origin Steel Tycoon LAKSHMI MITTAL Donates $25 Million To Harvard University
    Founded in 2003, the South Asia Initiative became a University-wide interdisciplinary institute in 2010 under the leadership of its current faculty director, Indian-American Tarun Khanna, the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School

    Indian-Origin Steel Tycoon LAKSHMI MITTAL Donates $25 Million To Harvard University

    Indian-American Attorney Ajay Raju Recognised With Philanthropy Award

    Indian-American Attorney Ajay Raju Recognised With Philanthropy Award
    Noted Indian-American attorney Ajay Raju has been honoured with the third American Bazaar Philanthropy award in recognition of his philanthropic activities in the US.

    Indian-American Attorney Ajay Raju Recognised With Philanthropy Award