New Employment Bill Proposed eliminating the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants

On February 7, 2019, Representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Ken Buck (R-CO), and 112 bipartisan members introduced the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 (H.R. 1044), which would after a transition period, among other things, eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants, and increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants from 7% to 15%. A companion Senate bill (S. 386) introduced by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has 14 co-sponsors. The bill does not change the number of family or employment-based green cards issued in a year.

This Bill proposes to eliminate or greatly reduce the backlogs for immigrants from China and India. If passed as written it ought to create long backlogs for most or all other countries and most or all immigrant classifications, unless the US increases its immigrant visa quotas overall. At present, HR 1044 is “just a bill” sitting on Capital Hill.It’s a long journey to the capital city. It’s a long wait while the bill sits in committee.So for now, HR 1044 is “just a bill.”