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Openers Dear Readers: This past week I spent the first part of the week walking the halls of Congress working on employment-based immigration legislation. I was joined by Robert Aronson, an immigration lawyer in Minnesota, and the two of us were representing the FMG Taskforce, a coalition of immigration law firms that work on physician cases. Most of our efforts were focused on the extension of the Conrad 30 J-1 physician program which expires in June. But we also discussed the H-1B/Employment-Based card provisions in the budget reconciliation bill. I’ve discussed that bill in previous issues, but to refresh readers’ memory, the bill’s language would do the following: • Reclaim 90,000 unused employment-based green cards• Eliminate spouses and children from the EB quota (as is the case with non-immigrant visas)• Allow filing of an adjustment petition even when an employment-based green card number is not yet available• Reclaim up to 30,000 H-1B visas per year that have not been used in past quotas (about 300,000 are currently available)• Charge a $500 tax on H-1Bs and EBs reclaimed from prior years• Add a new fee for L-1s similar to the H-1B worker retraining feeThe Senate and House have each passed their versions of the bill. The Senate version contains all of the provisions above. The House version only has the L-1 tax. In the next few weeks, Congress is likely to take up the bigger bill. It barely passed in the House due to non-immigration-related provisions. We’re watching the bill closely and will continue reporting. As I noted, I also was working on physician immigration issues. We’re pushing for a permanent or long term extension of the Conrad program, ways to make it easier for J-1 physicians to get to the US (such as making J-1s for doctors dual intent) and also providing more liberalized rules for disaster counties seeking doctors. ***** President Bush gave a major address last week to try and accelerate his push for immigration reform. The speech emphasized better immigration enforcement on the border as well as cracking down on employers hiring undocumented workers. But the President has kept his word and is continuing to push for a guest worker program. There are now a number of immigration bills pending in both houses of Congress that purport to reform the US immigration system. They generally fall into two categories – enforcement-only bills and enforcement/guest worker bills. Some proponents of enforcement-only bills claim that they are interested in first securing the borders and then, if successful, turning to the question of establishing a genuine guest worker program. But many pro-immigration advocates believe that sponsors of these bills have no real intention of ever getting to the visa side of the equation.Within the enforcement/guest worker camp, there are also a variety of approaches. Some create a non-immigrant visa option for workers, but will make it difficult to get permanent residency status. Others create a clear path to citizenship. The President has still not clearly defined which guest worker approach he favors. But he may not have to get that specific. It is very possible that a compromise approach will be reached in the course of negotiations in Congress. ***** By the way, the latest bill likely to be introduced will be by House Judiciary Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner. A key provision of that bill will be to make the Basic Pilot employment verification program mandatory for all employers. This is a program that allows employers to electronically verify the employment authorization of workers. You can find more information about this program at http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/SAVE.htm#twoWe also expect to see greater worksite enforcement of immigration laws based on recent pronouncements from the Department of Homeland Security and the White House. That will be a big change. According to a recent GAO report, the number of employer fines dropped from 417 in 1999 to 5 last year. ***** An important friend of immigrants announced this week he is leaving Congress. Congressman Jim Kolbe, a Republican from Arizona, represents the pro-immigration wing of the Republican Party and he has played a key role in legislation in this area for the last five years. Kolbe will be retiring from Congress at the end of this session following the 2006 election. ***** In firm news, I’ll be a speaker at the annual conference of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s New York Chapter on Thursday. I look forward to again speaking at this conference and look forward to seeing many of our readers there. ***** As always, we remind readers that we're lawyers who make our living representing immigration clients and employers seeking to comply with immigration laws. We would love to discuss becoming your law firm. Just go to http://www.visalaw.com/intake.html to request an appointment or call us at 800-748-3819 or 901-682-6455.
Regards, Greg Siskind
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. |
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