Source: boundless.com
The House of Representatives passed a major spending bill that allocates more than $100 billion for immigration reform. The Build Back Better Act includes provisions that protect nearly 7.1 million illegal immigrants from deportation and return more cards.
"The passage of the bill is an incredible step toward the first meaningful immigration reform in a generation," said Boundless CEO Xiao Wang.
"This bill will change the lives of millions of people, from highly skilled visa holders and family members of US citizens and permanent residents to illegal immigrants who have lived in our country and contributed for years."
Democrats were forced to soften the immigration bill after the Senate repeatedly rejected their proposals, saying they did not comply with Senate rules. The bill will not reach the Senate until December. If the Senate passes this
What immigration changes are in the document
Work permits for millions: Democrats are offering temporary parole -- essentially protection from deportation and work permits -- to nearly 7 million undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country since at least Jan. 1, 2011. Of these 7 million people, approximately 1.5 million will qualify for a green card through a family member.
That's a significant portion of the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. today. Those who qualify will be protected from deportation and will be able to obtain a work permit.
Reissuance of green cards
If the bill passes as currently written, the law could bring back more than two million green cards previously approved by Congress that have not been used since 1992.
Under the current bill, some employment-based green card applicants who have been waiting in line for at least two years would be able to pay an additional $5,000 fee to waive annual and country-by-country limits and become permanent residents for years -- or even decade Family members who have waited at least two years can apply for a waiver with a $2,500 fee.
Among other things, the bill aims to protect green cards for Diversity Visa lottery winners who were barred from entering the US during various innovations by the previous administration.
Child Tax Credit: Under the Donald Trump administration, approximately one million children whose parents are in the U.S. illegally were barred from receiving financial aid due to COVID-19.
The new bill proposes to change this rule. It remains unclear whether these provisions will make it into the final version of the Senate bill, but immigration advocates are celebrating the inclusion of any immigration reform as a victory.
"Now the Senate must do everything necessary to make this document enter into law as soon as possible," Wang said. "The lives of millions of families hang in the balance."
Misinformation
Misinformation There is a lot of misinformation about the Build Back Better bill, including the issue of reissuing green cards. The edition of The Hill explained all the nuances.
All foreign workers who will be granted these green cards are typically already working in the U.S. in H-1B status, a category with tight numerical limits on new petitions that were last updated in 2004. In most cases, they have lived and worked here for more than ten years. Moreover, they are already in the process of obtaining a green card with approved petitions for permanent residence.
Many of them worked in the US for years before starting the green card process. According to a Cato Institute study, “Indian employer-sponsored applicants have been waiting eight decades for green cards, and nearly 200,000 people will die before they can even theoretically reach their turn. While they wait their turn, their children lose their status when they turn 21.
What to do when the US is in many cases the only country they have known? There are also rumors that Build Back Better somehow increases green card limits, but this is not the case. Green card limits were set into law back in 1990 and have not changed since then for either employment-based green cards (140,000 per year) or family-based green cards (226,000 per year).
So what is reissuance of green cards? Due to the red tape and policies of the various agencies that grant immigration benefits, as well as embassy closures and ongoing delays due to COVID-19, hundreds of thousands of authorized green card slots have gone unused since 1992.
Green card reuse is nothing more than an administrative decision to help the individuals mentioned above, rebuild the immigrant population in the US, and generate billions of dollars in economic activity.
Green card rollbacks have also happened in the past and now enjoy bipartisan support, so this is not a radical new strategy.
After all, the return of the green card isn't just about big tech employers. It also affects doctors and health professionals working on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19, as well as researchers, entrepreneurs and others who have been developing the economy and innovating for more than a decade.
