The Immigration Innovation Act of 2013
In January of 2012, a year before the most earnest debate on immigration reform in over a decade would begin, Thomas J. Donahue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told conference attendees that "America’s Prosperity has always depended on the hard work, sacrifice, drive, and dreams of immigrants. Our future will depend on them even more."A year, and a bitter GOP election loss, later, the overwhelming need for immigration reform has been pondered, debated, and explained in news outlets from coast to coast. As the debate rages on over proposed legalization of undocumented immigrants, and protections of our borders, there is one clear consensus: our economic recovery needs foreign workers.
Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 (I-Squared Act)
The first clear indication that lawmakers understand the economic importance of immigration reform was the introduction of the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013, dubbed “I-Squared”, by Senators Hatch (R-UT), Klobuchar (D-MN), Rubio (R-FL) and Coons (D-DE), which evidences a rarely seen cohesiveness of thought where immigration is concerned.As William Stock, the treasurer of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, noted the "I-Squared Act provides critical reforms in the area of high-skilled immigration." He continued "This bill identifies many of the fixes that are necessary in the high-skilled area, without creating new red tape and bureaucratic barriers to businesses who need these workers. Innovative in name and by design, the I-Squared Act prepares America’s economy for the future. It’s in our economic interest and our nation’s interest."The major parts of the Act are:H-1B VisasThe I-Squared Act, if passed, would have a significant impact on the ability of U.S. employers to hire skilled foreign workers. It would nearly double the number of H-1B visas (temporary work visas for skilled employees) to 115,000, and remove limits on H-1Bs for those with advanced degrees. The Act would also allow for a "market-based H-1B escalator" that would function as a sliding scale by allowing additional visas depending on the demand. More significantly, spouses of H-1B visa holders would be able to obtain employment authorization.Other Temporary Work VisasIn addition to these long-sought changes to the H-1B visa, I-Squared would offer relief to many other categories of temporary work visas by easing restrictions on workers’ abilities to change employers while retaining their visa status, and by allowing holders of investment/trader, skilled worker, managers and executives, and artists and entertainer visas (E, H, L, O and P respectively) to re-validate their visas without leaving the United States.Student VisasCurrently, foreign students must show that they only have non-immigrant intent when entering the United States on a foreign visa. In other words, they must prove that they plan to return to their home country after completing their studies by showing evidence of an established residence and close ties there. The I-Squared Act would allow a student to have “dual-intent,” that is to intend both to return home at the end of their studies and remain in the United States to pursue career opportunities if possible. The practical application of this change would be to ease student visa requirements by not requiring evidence of intent to return after graduation.Employment based green cards
The I-Squared Act introduces a common sense approach to the allocation of employment-based green cards. Under current law, there are 140,000 green cards available each year to employer-sponsored immigrants. Moreover, no country can receive more than 7% of the total amount of green cards issued each year. Since the flow of migration from every country is not uniform, i.e. only 1% of green card applications may come from country A, whereas country B may represent a significantly higher percentage of total applications, the current system has resulted in green card applications being severely backlogged across the board. In some categories, prospective employees must wait five to seven years for their permanent residence to be granted, with nationals from India and China having to wait up to ten years or more.If passed, the I-Squared Act would eliminate the per-country limits for employment-based petitions, allowing the allocation of visas to follow a traditional supply and demand model. It would allow unused visas from one year to roll over into the next one so as to prevent future delays. The Act would also exempt certain categories from the total cap: Those who hold U.S. degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, persons with extraordinary abilities, and outstanding professors and researchers. Visas issued to the dependent family members of employment-based green card recipients would also not count towards the total cap.U.S. STEM Education and Worker Retraining InitiativeUnder the I-Squared Act, fees paid in connection with H-1B employment-based green card applications would be reformed and used to fund a grant program that would promote STEM education and worker retraining.
Other Legislation
Although the I-Squared Act offers the most concrete look at what employment-based immigration reform might look like in the near future, the urgent need to update the archaic system has not been lost on anyone in Washington. Both the Senate and President Obama recently unveiled their own proposals for reforming our current immigration system.The "Gang of Eight" Senators leading immigration reform talks in the Senate, Senators Rubio (R-FL), McCain (R-AZ), Graham (R-SC), Schumer (D-NY), Menendez (D-NJ), Bennet (D-CO), and Durbin (D-IL), noted that "the United States must do a better job of attracting and keeping the world’s best and brightest. As such, our immigration proposal will award a green card to immigrants who have received a PhD or Master’s degree [in STEM fields]." The proposal also includes reduction of current backlogs.
President Obama’s proposal goes further than that of the Senators,' calling for an elimination of current backlogs and per country caps, and increasing the total amount of available green cards; ensuring that a new system meets current and future demands, encouraging STEM graduate students to remain in the United States by "stapling" a green card to their diplomas if they find employment in the U.S., creating a "startup visa" for entrepreneurs, and expanding opportunities for investor visas.The I-Squared Act was introduced on January 29, 2013 and referred to the Senate’s Judicial Committee for review on that same day. Though it is too soon to tell what its fate will be, the easy consensus, coupled with the large bi-partisan support, give an indication of what changes may be ahead for business based immigration.While the I-Squared Act is insufficient on its own to fix our broken immigration system, and as we continue to hope for a more comprehensive bill that will provide relief to all immigrants, this type of language and legislation offers some hope that consensus can be achieved to benefit both foreigners wishing to immigrate to the United States, and the U.S. economy.