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Bill to relax green card cap passed
Why is it in news?
- The U.S. House of Representatives passed (365-65) the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019.
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What will act do?:
- Increases the annual limit of per-country cap on family-based green cards: The act increases the annual limit of family-based green cards offered to citizens of each country and eliminates the country-wise cap on employment-based green cards.
- Reduction in waiting time:(1) It will have a significant impact on nationals of countries such as India.(2) In India’s case, demand for immigrant visas (which convert to green cards upon admission to the U.S.) exceeds the number of visas available each year, resulting in wait times that could run into decades.
- Elimination of employment-based green card caps:(1) The Bill altogether eliminates employment-based green card caps.(2) As of November 2017, China, India and the Philippines, in that order, accounted for the top three countries whose nationals got approved for employment-based green cards.
- Transition period:(1) The House Bill also provides a transition period from fiscal year 2020 to 2022 by reserving a % of employment visas — in the EB-2 (exceptional ability), EB-3 (skilled workers) and EB-5 (investors) categories- for individuals who are not from the two countries whose nationals claim most of these visas.(2) This transition mechanism presumably allows those already in line from countries with lower green card demand to be cleared before caps are liberalised or eliminated.
Source
The Hindu