The debate in Washington over the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, a comprehensive immigration reform bill introduced by Senator Charles Schumer, continues to rage on. The bill passed by a vote of 68-32 on June 27, 2013, in the Senate and has since been sent to the House of Representatives for approval. The bill provides a path to legal status and citizenship for many undocumented immigrants and increases spending, manpower, and infrastructure to be implemented on the southern border of the U.S. (the ‘Hoeven-Corker Amendment’). It also sets up a talent-based immigration system based on points allocated according to education level, employment experience, entrepreneurship, high demand occupations, special employment criteria, exceptional employment records, civic involvement, English language skills, specific familial connections in the U.S., age, country of origin, etc. The bill also sets up a number of new visas and modifies some existing visas, including the H-1B and L visa programs. It is important to note that such changes, if actually passed, would not come into effect for a number of years. Please click here for an article we previously wrote about the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.

Reports show that most House Republicans oppose a path to citizenship, but in attempts to court immigrant voters, such as the Latino and Asian groups who largely supported President Obama in the last election, House Republicans are working on a number of smaller-scale immigration proposals in a rejection of the comprehensive reform bill passed in the Senate. Such proposals include a plan by Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, proposing potential citizenship for young people brought to the country illegally as children, a population estimated to be around 1.7 million people. This proposal (possibly to be called the KIDS Act), is similar to but more limited than the DREAM Act that failed to pass in the Senate in 2010, and has support from other notable Republican representatives like John Boehner, Speaker of the House, and Bob Goodlatte, representing Virginia’s 6th congressional district. Another proposal with support in the House of Representatives is the SKILLS Visa Act (Supplying Knowledge Based Immigrants and Lifting Levels of STEM Visas Act). This bill, which was recently approved by the House Judiciary Committee, gives American employers access to skilled workers by increasing the number of green cards available to foreign graduates with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math from U.S. universities. This proposal also increases H-1B visas, repeals the employment-based per-country cap, establishes a new entrepreneur visa program, and strengthens the investor visa program.

In a poll published in the National Journal, Democratic and Republican political insiders voted on the probability that Congress will pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year. 44% of Democratic political insiders predicted that the bill’s passage is ‘somewhat unlikely’, 25% said it is ‘somewhat likely’, 29% said it is ‘very unlikely’, and only 2% said it is ‘very likely’. Republican political insiders had somewhat similar views, with 35% thinking that the bill’s passage this year is ‘somewhat unlikely’, 29% saying it is ‘somewhat likely’, 34% saying it is ‘very unlikely,’ and 2% saying it is ‘very likely’.1

While the House of Representative’s approval of the Senate’s Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act seems unlikely, many experts still affirm that Republican representatives do want to pass immigration reform, though the House’s version of immigration reform may be in several small pieces focused on specific issues rather than one comprehensive bill, and would likely not include any relief for most undocumented workers, which is very different from the bill passed in the Senate.

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1Michael Catalini, Alex Roarty, and Peter Bell, “Poll: Will Congress Pass an Immigration Reform Bill?”, Political Insiders Poll, National Journal, July 25, 2013, accessed July 26, 2013 < http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/poll-will-congress-pass-an-immigration-reform-bill-20130725>.

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Founded in 1996, Zhang & Associates, P.C. offers legal services to clients nationwide in all aspects of U.S immigration law. We have successfully handled thousands of immigration cases.

At Zhang & Associates, P.C., our attorneys and supporting professionals are committed to providing high-quality immigration and non-immigration visa services. We specialize in NIW, EB-1, PERM, and I-485 cases. In the past seventeen years, we have successfully helped thousands of clients get green cards. If you plan to apply for a green card, please send your CV to Attorney Jerry Zhang (info@hooyou.com) for a free evaluation.

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(07/29/2013)