Aim of HR-1044?
The aim reasons for the introduction of the bill is considered as the pressure from the IT corporate, who have been facing tough time recruiting foreign national employees due to long wait for Green card for certain nationals.
Why has it been introduced?
The reason the bill has been introduced is that, many foreign nationals were employed in the United States (Mostly Techies) and were promised with some arrangements which includes Green Cards after a specific period. The companies hired more numbers of techies than the number of Green Cards that they could provide through current legal system. These Techies(Mostly Indians) weren’t sent back and were left waiting for the Green Cards for more than 10 years in many cases.Current procedure for green card
- Green Card which officially called as Permanent Residence Card or USCIS Form I -551. It is called green card because it was made of green coloured paper initially.
- People seeking green cards are classified into five categories
- EB - 1 (1st Preference) : Intellects.
- EB -2 (2nd Preference): Workers with exceptional talent or advanced degree.
- EB -3(3rd Preference): Skilled professionals and Workers.
- EB -4 (4th Preference): Religious workers, Special Immigrant Juvenile, etc.
- EB -5 (5th Preference): Investors (($500,000 - $1,000,000).
- Most of the IT workers (Indian Nationals) going to USA fall under EB-2 and EB-3.
Green Card Lottery Program
- The other way to get Green Card is Green Card Lottery Program, which started in 1995 and seeks to maintain diversity in immigration.
- It is an annual program in which a person seeking Green Card has to complete and submit a form electronically to Department of States’ website within given time is the only way to apply for this program.
- The countries with more than 50,000 immigrants in last 5 years are not eligible for this program.
- The above condition in the Green Card lottery Program has made Indians ineligible for this program.
Provisions of HR-1044
- The provisions in the bill seeks to eliminate the seven percent per country cap on employment - based immigration visa. The bill also removes an offset that reduced the number of VISA’s for individuals from China.
- The provisions in the bill seeks to establish transition rules for employment-based visas from Financial Year 2020-22 by reserving a percentage of EB-2, EB-3, and EB-5 VISAs for individuals from other than the 2 countries that get the largest number of such VISA’s.
- No more than 85 percent of the unreserved VISA’s, would be allotted to immigrants from any single country.
Advantages of HR-1044
- The bill would make the Green Card system fairer and transparent.
- If the bill is passed and made a law, then the Green Cards would be given on “First Come, First Serve” basis rather than depending upon place of origin of applicant.
- The bill would also bring the numerous VISA’s holders into mainstream American economy.
- This bill would help the US based Tech companies to hire high – skilled foreign national immigrants without being worried about their immigration process. This would help them to provide better services goods, etc, and compete at the global market.
- The bill also increases the per country cap from seven percent to 15 percent. This per country cap is overflow in nature i.e., if employment based immigration is less than 15 percent, than the remaining percent would overflow to the per country cap of other country.
Disadvantages of HR – 1044
- Many of the native Americans fear that the American markets will be flooded with Indian IT employees with fake degrees and less skill. American public believe that only few of the Indians are high skilled , but of the Indian have fake diplomas and low skills.
- In the United States, currently 25 percent of employment Green Cards are given to Indians, if the bill becomes law, then about 90 percent of the Green Cards would be given to Indians which would make the Green Cards unavailable for the employees from other countries for at least a period of 10 years.
- The bill also eliminates the per country cap on EB – 5 category, which would attract many Chinese investors to the USA as they would get Green Cards earlier than the current system, pushing out the investors from other parts of the globe.
Chances of HR – 1044 becoming a law
The procedure for a bill to become a law in USA is- Introduction of Bill.
- Passing of the Bill in Congress.
- Passing of the Bill in Senate.
- President’s Signature.
- Becoming a law.
As of now the bill has passed through the US Congress with good majority, but one should not forget that it is mostly occupied by the Democrats. The Senate which is the next step in the process, is mostly occupies by the Republicans. Even the voting process in the Senate is not as simple as in the Congress. The bill would be first be debated and then, it would be voted. Here’s where the real problem starts. For a bill to proceed to voting in Senate all the members must agree. A member of the Senate can stop the bill from voting, by putting a hold on it. To get out of this hold 60 or more members of the Senate must support it (Strength of the Senate is 100). Also, the bill must pass in the same form as it is. Even a single amendment would mean that the bill goes back to the Congress. Hence, both the Congress, and Senate must together pass the same bill which would go to the President for his sign. The President then can sign the bill or pocket the bill. This is the process that HR – 1044 has to undergo to transform from a bill to law. Many experts feel that the chances of the bill passing in the Senate are next to 0. But, there is a ray of hope in the Indian community after the recent tweets from the President of USA about the issue.
Reactions on HR – 1044
“(If President Donald Trump) is serious about merit – based legal immigration, he should help usher this s bill into law” - Congresswoman, ZeoLefgren.
“Today the US House passed the legislation to ensure people from all countries are treated alike in the Green Card Process. This promotes a fair high-skilled immigration system that’s good for the business, and our economy” -Microsoft President, Brad Smith.
“This is another gift for big – tech companies at the expense of American workers and students” - Congressman, Paul Gosar.
“Green Cards would be unavailable to applicants from all other parts of the world for at least a decade” - Centre of Immigration Studies.
What can we expect?
The bill at the moment looks unlikely to pass, but if passed would benefit the Indian tech employees, and the Chinese investors to a large extent to get the Green Cards for which they have been waiting for years. The native Americans would now face a stiff challenge from the Indian Techies moving to the United States. But given that election 2020 season has already begun, it very difficult for the bill to make through from the Senate facing the same result of S 386.
Hi, I am Sri Sai PavanAnde. I am pursuing my B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering(ECE) from Vignan University. My dream is to join Civil Services. I like to write articles about Foreign Relations and Science and Technology. I spend my free time playing chess and watching movies.
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