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H.R. 5921, The High Skilled Per Country Level Elimination Act
- This item is from the 110th Congress (2007-2008) and is no longer current. Comments, voting, and wiki editing have been disabled, and the cost/savings estimate has been frozen.
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Visitor Comments
Enrique C
May 1, 2008, 3:13pm (report abuse)This bill is definitely going to hurt professional immigrants from countries with low immigration rates. Diversity will be hindered.
Ska
May 12, 2008, 2:46am (report abuse)This bill is long due. Makes no sense to talk about diversity here. For that, there is a separate diversity lottery here. Common-sense will tell you that China or India will produce more high-skilled professionals than a country say Nicaragua by their sheer size of population. Dont see why Chinese/Indians ought to be penalized by waiting in line for ages, while they are being productive members of the society.
TR
May 13, 2008, 8:10pm (report abuse)It's really the Indians that are effected by this problem. That's because the bodyshop "consulting" companies that they have set up here in U.S are abusing the system. I don't see why the others should pay the price. Keep the diversity and stop abusing the system.
Rahul
May 14, 2008, 11:30am (report abuse)I strongly disagree with TR's and Enrique's comments here. Here is why. The bill is related to employment based immigration, in any socio-economic environment labor is a commodity which is driven through demand and supply. In a free economy, restricting market forces would not yield any good and neither would restricting the competition within labor market. Indian/Chinese skilled labor force would shift to different economies while this economy would wait some other demography to catch up with these two demography. Present estimates are India-4% and China-4.7% of total immigrants. You may choose to wait for say Afghani population (2007 - 1753 got PR though every country has 7% of EB based quota 100000+) to fill up the labor demands or get skilled labor (techs, teachers, nurses, researchers) irrespective of nationality. If there is some misuse of the system that should be dealt differently through enforcement. Enforcement of law should be separate from economics.
Enrique C
May 14, 2008, 12:18pm (report abuse)Ska and Rahul, you can say whatever you want, the bottomline is that for every 10 immigrants, there will be 5 or more from India and China. If Americans are OK with that, fine with me. I doubt it, though.
TR
May 14, 2008, 5:02pm (report abuse)Rahul,
I don’t buy the argument that only India and China produce the brightest people who are willing to work here in U.S. There are just as many people from Europe and the rest of the world who are just as qualified and who would want to work in the U.S. The problem starts with the H1-B visas, where most of them are taken by these Indian IT consulting companies. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think these IT companies hire non-Indian workers. There are many qualified people from the rest of the world who are willing to work here in U.S, but can’t because the majority of the H1-B visas is going to Indians and Chinese nationals. Perhaps, there should be a per-country quota at the H1-B level. I don’t think there is anything wrong with the current country quota; if some countries don’t use their quotas then these quotas roll into the countries that have higher demand.
MS
May 15, 2008, 6:43am (report abuse)Rahul
'ndian/Chinese skilled labor force would shift to different economies '
Please do - we are waiting eagerly.
limbo
May 16, 2008, 8:28pm (report abuse)It makes sense to eliminate caps for EB1 and EB2, BUT NOT EB3!! Everyone knows of the sweat shops that hire only people from India. Supply and demand is bunk. It's all about gaming the system to gain an advantage and monopolize the limited number of visas. This one has to go down, BIG TIME.
ROW
May 19, 2008, 3:55pm (report abuse)I corroborate Enrique, TR and MS.
Indians have already made H1 visa almost private and want to make all EB categories same as well. Look up last fiscal year's numbers. Indians have double approvals than next country, which btw is China. They're using China and Mexico as shield to shove down everybody else's throat this partial and lucrative motivated bill from their selfish perspective.
J. Hirch
May 24, 2008, 1:29pm (report abuse)This is an extremely bad bill.With India dominating not only the H1 visa quota and EB green cards applications but also body shops and “consulting” companies; eliminating the per country quota would massively and unfairly flood America with workers from India
Many defenders of the bill used flawed socio-economic reasons to justify their *shameful and selfish agenda. Unused visa for ROW (Other countries) is NOT because there are not enough skilled workers from other countries but because the uscis/dhs use the quota to conservatively hence at the end of the visa year there are still many quotas left. ROW priority date has never been current for a very long time
Would you prefer to work with 7 immigrants from India and OR 2 from India, 1 from Germany, 1 from Zimbabwe, 1 from Argentina, 1 from Slovakia and 1 from Burma? The bill will not only hurt professional immigrants from other countries but also will hurt diversity, the core and sacred believe of American people
Andy
May 26, 2008, 7:48pm (report abuse)Hello TR,Enrique C
I am from India came to USA in 2002 as a Student , Got a Job in 2004 , Finished my MS 2004 , Finished MBA in 2006 , ..waiting in the Green Card Q for last 3 years and still expect that the wait time will be around 4 years .
You are Right some people are abusing the system, a lot of people are not bust still facing the problem of back log .
Vish
June 9, 2008, 4:26pm (report abuse)Hi, I came to USA in 2000 thinking that I will get Green Card and settled down here. But it is taking forever. Now I am planning to go back to my country as India is booming, if I don't get GC soon. Remember I will be taking so much of experience with me and tons of money which we earned in the last decade also with me. If ½ million Indians does the same it is not only bad on financial terminology as US will lose $30-$40 US Billions but also lose the higher end technical guys too. It is going to be a severe effect on already struggling economy. On the other hand if the rules are more immigrants friendly and all the ½ million staying back will result in the additional investments of $50 Billion Dollars in the economy and technical brains will get lot more. Any delay will send wrong signals to the large Indian students who come here for MS.
Suni
June 16, 2008, 6:24pm (report abuse)Hopefully, when Obama becomes President, he will push this bill to approval and prove that he really believe in change.
AM
June 17, 2008, 1:08pm (report abuse)This is in regard to employment based greencards. So why is diversity of national origin more important than diversity of skills?
I think those people who justify such quotas are either beneficiaries who want to jump ahead in the line, or else closet racists.
It is incredibly unprofessional to claim that diversity of race is somehow more 'core' to the American workplace rather than diversity of skill. The empoyment based visa is about strengthening the American workforce & economy. These quotas are no doubt anti-business and anti-economy.
What would you rather have, as a small business employer? A diversified portfolio of skill-sets, or people from all races?
I guess you really need to be a business owner or have a enterpreneurial brain to comprehend why education and skills are more important than race.
H1worker
June 17, 2008, 5:56pm (report abuse)To Enrique C:
there are thousands of EB applicant already in the US who are backlogged. Granting them a GC now or in 15 years is not going to effect diversity because they are already here. Delaying their GC because of country limits just serves to make their life miserable and accomplishes nothing else.
H1worker
June 17, 2008, 6:05pm (report abuse)To J. Hirch:
Consider my last comment on diversity.
You have to work with the colleagues you have. You can't possibly deport people from some nationality just so that you can maintain your idea of what constitutes diversity at work place.
KK
June 18, 2008, 9:37am (report abuse)Immigrants are innovators, if not all, but some for sure. They go on to create jobs for Americans like you and me. Read about the history of Google, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo! and other companies. Ignorance Is Not Bliss!
Jeff
June 18, 2008, 1:39pm (report abuse)Since when did Diversity = Skill? I rather let someone be a member of our country by virtue of their skills and what they can offer versus where they are born. Congress needs to wake up and be practical. We need these skilled immigrants...
JK
June 23, 2008, 3:21pm (report abuse)What the Congress needs to do is to crack down on the H1-B abuse and more specifically the Indian "body shop" companies. Take care of that first and then change try to change the laws.
John Matteson
June 24, 2008, 5:58pm (report abuse)Surprised to learn that there is a per country ceiling and discrimination in employment based immigration. When employers looks to hire
someone they look at the qualifications, skills not where they were born!
The argument that per country limit ensures diversity seems to be absurd since same quantity of visa numbers are given to 1 billion + population and a country with 1 million. Good that Congress is fixing this discrimination.
America needs skilled immigration without any discrimination based on country of birth. Such discrimination is unamerican, and is against the fundamental American fairness.
It does make sense to retain per country limits on family immigration to ensure diversity.
John Matteson
June 24, 2008, 6:01pm (report abuse)Surprised to learn that there is a per country ceiling and discrimination in employment based immigration. When employers looks to hire
someone they look at the qualifications, skills not where they were born!
One clarification to above statement- of course the employers should look at US born first!!
Indian
June 24, 2008, 8:54pm (report abuse)To those who have posted against Indians. They are selfish enough to want to jump ahead of the queue. My question to them is no one is stopping you to compete with Indians to get H1b. So why should you get a preferential treatment when it comes to green card? Why is it that Indians and Chinese are made to wait longer than anyone else? I agree that people in other countries are as smart as Indians, but are we stopping you from applying H1Bs or green cards? We are just thinking of our careers and families when we apply H1Bs. So why should we be discriminated against. The consulting shops are thriving because US businesses want to underpay and take no liability for your career. Dont try to blame it on some Indian guy. This whole argument smells RACISM!!!
hhhhh.
June 30, 2008, 10:46am (report abuse)This is an extremely bad bill.With India dominating not only the H1 visa quota and EB green cards applications but also body shops and “consulting” companies; eliminating the per country quota would massively and unfairly flood America with workers from India
Many defenders of the bill used flawed socio-economic reasons to justify their *shameful and selfish agenda. Unused visa for ROW (Other countries) is NOT because there are not enough skilled workers from other countries but because the uscis/dhs use the quota to conservatively hence at the end of the visa year there are still many quotas left. ROW priority date has never been current for a very long time
Would you prefer to work with 7 immigrants from India and OR 2 from India, 1 from Germany, 1 from Zimbabwe, 1 from Argentina, 1 from Slovakia and 1 from Burma? The bill will not only hurt professional immigrants from other countries but also will hurt diversity, the core and sacred believe of American people
H1worker
June 30, 2008, 3:43pm (report abuse)J. Hirch, or hhhhh or doxa,
Doesn't seem like you are very smart to be employed.
There are thousands of EB applicant already in the US who are backlogged.
How does granting them a GC now or in 15 years effect GC?
H1worker
June 30, 2008, 4:49pm (report abuse)J. Hirch, or hhhhh or doxa,
Doesn't seem like you are very smart to be employed.
There are thousands of EB applicant already in the US who are backlogged.
How does granting them a GC now or in 15 years effect diversity?
preparationH
July 13, 2008, 2:59pm (report abuse)This bill clearly provides justice to thousands of Indian and Chinese waiting in line to get their GC. I am from India and waited here since 2002 and still have long ways to go. It saddened me to so see my colleague from Australia with PD in 2005 get his GC in EB3 category doing similar job in my company while I am still waiting from 2002. I went to university here in US and he did not. This percontry quota is not rational in Employment based GC.
Wating4EightYrs
July 15, 2008, 1:30pm (report abuse)Its funny how for a country who's foundation lays on "No caste, creed race or sex but the best" has a criteria for entering and getting into naturalization as "Are your from India/China/UK/France/Afgan..etc. and have quota system".
Lets face it if you are good you make it and let the country prosper on a free economy and culture.
This bill will rectify some of the current economic and immigrant issues rather than creating more. Just imagine so many people waiting for Green card and not spending much and saving money for the rainy day, gets their GC. Everyone eventually will put the money back into the system esp buying a house for instance.
Its shear common-sense to support this bill and shear prejudice against certain race not to support it.
Jeff
August 4, 2008, 6:00pm (report abuse)Well, it would be OK to eliminate the per country limits, if the total limits were lowered to reasonable levels, and the remaining visas auctioned off to the highest bidding applicant/sponsor teams, so as to help improve the odds that they're going to better applicants.
And, of course, every visa applicant should undergo, pay for, and pass a proper background investigation and medical examination. And returning US citizens should also have to pass a medical exam.
physician
August 5, 2008, 11:13am (report abuse)I am a physician. At my workplace, physicians from other countries have come and gone after getting green cards, while the ones from India have been stuck with the current employer and experiencing hardships such as inability to get further subspecialty training or move to a better working environment. I personally am living separetly from my spouse as we could not get jobs in the same city.
Can somebody justify country quotas in my situation? Moreover, there is no visible end to this wait. It is almost humiliating to face discrimination like this.
besmart
September 17, 2008, 12:30pm (report abuse)WOW...all that talk about diversity. I am gonna break it down piece by piece:
1. How wud this affect diversity. Its not like the green card are taken away from rest of the world quota. Does anybody know meaning of "UNUSED"?
2. H1B and all the other work visas are available for everyone and every country. If folks from countries other then india and china don't apply for H1B or green card they not gonna get it.
3. Do I want one indian/chinese for every 5 americans?? I got news for you Enrique. You already have 5 indian/Chinese for every american. Indian and chinese make up 2/5 of the humanity. So get used to the idea of seeing us often or shall I say very often.
4. This bill is not gonna give high tech immigrants any thing new. They will get their green cards no matter what. This bill merely takes care of the long delays in that process.
Vinh Le
September 18, 2008, 11:10am (report abuse)Why not have a per country limit based on a countries percentage of the world population? For example Indians are 15% of the world's population, set the limit on Indian immigrants at 15%.
But the biggest problem with this bill is it will further increase the waiting time for family immigrants, some of who now wait 22 years. This is because the bill will increase the demand for but decrease the supply of family immigrant visas.
Miranti Lao
October 18, 2008, 5:04pm (report abuse)I come from Burma. I settle as refugee in America because I am Buddhist. Everybody is very nice to me like american, chinese, indians. We can be nice to everybody who comes because we live in small world. I believe in peace and good for all as country gets help from people who come from outside.
Charlie
November 19, 2008, 1:09pm (report abuse)As far as I am concerned there should be a total halt to all employment based immigration. As long as one American citizen is unemployed there should not be one individual granted entry to take a job.