The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a budget reconciliation package last week that would raise millions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury and simultaneously address the shortage of certain immigrant (permanent) and nonimmigrant (temporary) employment-based visas. The Committee approved the proposal by a vote of 14-2.
The approved language includes the original proposal that Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) offered two weeks ago, along with an oral amendment offered by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.). (See http://feinstein.senate.gov/05releases/r-h1b-amndt.htm for a statement from Sen. Feinstein on her amendment.) If enacted in its present form, the new legislation would:
Impose a minimum fee for nonimmigrant L-1 visas of $750 that would have to be paid by the employer. This fee would be in addition to the $185 filing fee and $500 anti-fraud fee, bringing the total cost for an L-1 visa to $1,435 (though it is unclear whether the $750 would be imposed only on initial L-1 petitions, or on extensions as well).
Make available for at least five years an additional 30,000 H-1B visas per year from a pool of previously unused visas going back to 1991 -- upon payment of an additional $500 fee -- once the annual H-1B cap is reached. (Senator Feinstein's amendment cut in half an earlier proposal that would have allocated 60,000 additional H-1B visas per year.)
Recapture and reissue unused employment-based immigrant visas ("green cards"), and increase the current quotas for the first, second and third employment-based immigrant visa categories by exempting spouses and children from the annual numerical limit. There would be an additional $500 fee imposed on all immigrant visa petitions. Unlike the new H-1B fee (which would attach to the extra visas only), the fee on immigrant visas would be permanent and would apply to all petitions, regardless of whether the visa comes from the recaptured pool or not.
Allow foreign nationals to file for adjustment of status in conjunction with an employment-based I-140 visa petition (either concurrently or following approval of the I-140 petition), even if there is no immigrant visa immediately available, so long as the petitioner/employer pays the $500 fee with the I-140. This would alleviate some of the hardship associated with the recent visa retrogression that left many I-140 beneficiaries without remedy. The benefits of being permitted to file an adjustment application immediately include the availability of work authorization and advance parole for foreign travel.
This proposal is still in the very early stages of the legislative process. With the Committee's favorable vote, the proposal will go to the Senate Budget Committee and become part of an overall Senate budget reconciliation bill. Assuming approval by the full Senate, the Senate and House will meet in conference to iron out the differences between their respective bills. The last step is for the House and Senate to vote on the final product that comes out of conference.
We will issue further updates on this issue as this measure makes its way through the House and Senate. The final bill text has not yet been released to the public, and the ultimate results of this initiative may be different from what has currently been proposed.