Immigration Innovation Act 2013 (I^2 Act 2013, I Squared Act 2013)


joe30t

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Please read the summary below and comment:

Immigration Innovation (I2) Act of 2013

Employment-Based Nonimmigrant H-1B Visas

  • Increase H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000
  • Establish a market-based H-1B escalator, so that the cap can adjust – up or down – to the demands of the economy (includes a 300,000 ceiling on the ability of the escalator to move)
    • If the cap is hit in the first 45 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 20,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately.
    • If the cap is hit in the first 60 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 15,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately.
    • If the cap is hit in the first 90 days when petitions may be filed, an additional 10,000 H-1B visas will be made available immediately.
    • If the cap is hit during the 185-day period ending on the 275th day on which petitions may be filed, and additional 5,000 H-1B will be made available immediately.

    [*]Uncap the existing U.S. advanced degree exemption (currently limited to 20,000 per year)

    [*]Authorize employment for dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders

    [*]Increase portability of high skilled foreign workers by:

    [*]Removing impediments and costs of changing employers;

    [*]Establishing a clear transition period for foreign workers as they change jobs; and,

    [*]Restoring visa revalidation for E, H, L, O, and P nonimmigrant visa categories

Student Visas

  • Allow dual intent for foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities to provide the certainty they need to ensure their future in the United States

Immigrant Visas and Green Cards

  • Enable the recapture of green card numbers that were approved by Congress in previous years but were not used

  • Exempt certain categories of persons from the employment-based green card cap:

  • Dependents of employment-based immigrant visa recipients

  • U.S. STEM advance degree holders

  • Persons with extraordinary ability

  • Outstanding professors and researchers

  • Provide for the roll-over of unused employment-based immigrant visa numbers to the following fiscal year so future visas are not lost due to bureaucratic delays

  • Eliminate annual per-country limits for employment based visa petitioners and adjust per-country caps for family-based immigrant visas

U.S. STEM Education & Worker Retraining Initiative

  • Reform fees on H-1B visas and employment-based green cards; use money from these fees to fund a grant program to promote STEM education and worker retraining to be administered by the states

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I had mentioned in one of the earlier threads i had started (Immigration Reform) , that if the illegals would need to be made legals, then those in the legal queue would need to be addressed first. Bottom line, the H1 and employment based immigration people should thank the latinos for being responsible for this immigration overhaul. They had numbers on their side .. "Strength in Numbers" as they say ..

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I had mentioned in one of the earlier threads i had started (Immigration Reform) , that if the illegals would need to be made legals, then those in the legal queue would need to be addressed first. Bottom line, the H1 and employment based immigration people should thank the latinos for being responsible for this immigration overhaul. They had numbers on their side .. "Strength in Numbers" as they say ..

Politicians need power and that comes through amnesty.

If they want to legalize then that's not a big deal, but not by providing GC. What kind of legalization is that??

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I have been a legal resident of US for 12 years now with a higher degree in STEM field.

I have been aspiring to start a business. Has not been able to go forward with that for many years.My application priority date has retrogressed many times I lost hope.

This bill is a breath of relief.

Hope this bill passes earlier making it easy for Advanced Degree Holders.

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I think increasing H1B quota is not good idea. The companies here in the US never recruit fresh college (under)graduate and train them. Most of the IT jobs can be filled by training people here itself. It is a good idea to give green card to STEM degree holders. The STEM degree holders who get green card plus the increased H1B will flood skilled/semi skilled people in the job market. So the salary will decrease or cannot find a job those who are already here in the US including H1B people. The H1B visa increase is only good for consulting companies (body shops) who just sponsor them and take money for all expenses to keep them in H1B- they donot even find a job for them, the H1B holder need to find a job as a subcontractor. They take commission on everything from Attorney fees to filing fees. The biggest enemy of H1 visa holder is- you have to leave the country if you loose your job within one week. Those who are coming here are looking for better life and they already resigned their job in other country cannot take this law. So they move to consulting companies form big multinational companies to save their H1B status and body shops flourish on this law. No H1B holders dare to file green card from big companies because during the process they may fire you and you have to start from scratch. So they join consulting companies( who never fire an employee by keeping the person on their employee list by several tricks even if they are on bench and milking always) to fulfill their dream of green card. So consulting companies( bodyshops) always wins. They prolong the green card for years to milk the person.

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This is a welcome development. As I posted elsewhere on this forum I have not had a chance to read the text of the bill nor all the analysis (as I have an overlapping project close out and start up). From the legal analysis that I have read, it worth noting that this bill is separate from the "comprehensive immigration reform" (CIR) initiatives, but does indicate the type of employment based immigration reforms that may well be a CIR bill. It has also been mentioned that it will be interesting to see what the upcoming bill from the House looks like in comparison to this one from the Senate. Lastly, it has been pointed out the likely opposition to the H-1B changes.

IMO, the notable reforms are visa recapture, U.S. advanced STEM degree holders exempt from quotas, dependents exempt from quotas, dual immigration intent for F-1 student visas, and elimination of per country quotas (which would be far less contentious given the other noted reforms).

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Yahooman, You definitely have very good points. There is lot of scope for H1B visa reform as well as the GC refrom for employment based category. I think the proposed H1B reform is not going to work. But GC refrom has potential to clear all the problems with the H1B and might not even need a reform for H1B visa.

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IMO, the notable reforms are visa recapture, U.S. advanced STEM degree holders exempt from quotas, dependents exempt from quotas, dual immigration intent for F-1 student visas, and elimination of per country quotas (which would be far less contentious given the other noted reforms).

dual intent for F1. There are people who come here on f1 for bachelors; would they be covered under dual intent as well or it will be for MS\phd seekers?

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@yahooman you have put it well.

I have been saying the same thing.

Desi employers are the ones who will milk if the h1 quota is increased. Any person who has even hrd the word Java or C Lang will suddenly become a 7+ yr experienced consultant.

And everyone knows where do these people come from.

Is it the same place from where people who illegaly pay for their Green Card come ?

BTW, STEM is a good move but should have a clause that those with Full Time employment should only be considered. I can see tons of STEM graduates working as low paid consultants with small shady body shops

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The good proposals are

  • uncapping advanced degree h1b, allowing spouses ead, making transition smoother and revalidating visa without leaving home.
  • recapture of EB visa numbers, roll over of unused visa numbers, STEM adv degree holders exempt from the quota

Other proposals such as excluding dependents from being counted against quota may need sunset provisions.

What purpose can be served by allowing dual intent to F1?

Lastly removing caps based on country of birth may divide even EB community.

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lol...ok just to get the record straight..i confirmed with my previous employer(after the good hearing I got from fellow members :) ) and confirmed that for PERM and I-140 he was the one who paid...and the fees which I paid the Attorney included only for the I-485. there was some confusion back then on the payment issue and I never bothered to check with either my employer or my attorney.

happy? no im not not making any story here.

First , your coming up with a new story now does not help. If you think you are clean - let everybody know your real credential so that we can send a complain to CIS for investigation .

Second, even if your new "story" is true you admitted that your intent was to obtain GC fraudulently .... too late trying to cover now . Before pointing to any specific region, point to where you came from . Is that a land of frauds ? BTW, I am not from ANY of the southern states but hate to see this regional bias.

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lol...ok just to get the record straight..i confirmed with my previous employer(after the good hearing I got from fellow members :) ) and confirmed that for PERM and I-140 he was the one who paid...and the fees which I paid the Attorney included only for the I-485. there was some confusion back then on the payment issue and I never bothered to check with either my employer or my attorney.

happy? no im not not making any story here.

This is what you said earlier "mine was a desi employer who wasnt ready to put money even on the PERM." . And now you want us to believe your new story that he paid for PERM AND 140 too ! BTW, employer is not required to pay for 140

Payment for 485 comes Much later so there is no way you can confuse PERM payment with 485 payment ..... your story is so weak that even a blind can see the holes :)

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I do not understand the intention to capture the unused visa numbers. it should be dynamic, if the economy is good, we shud get more visa numbers and not somany otherwise. but if there is something unfair then they are 1. country wide caps for Employment based GCs and 2. no work permit for H4 dependents.

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First , your coming up with a new story now does not help. If you think you are clean - let everybody know your real credential so that we can send a complain to CIS for investigation .

Second, even if your new "story" is true you admitted that your intent was to obtain GC fraudulently .... too late trying to cover now . Before pointing to any specific region, point to where you came from . Is that a land of frauds ? BTW, I am not from ANY of the southern states but hate to see this regional bias.

Well said. In fact that guy mentioned not to expose it but now that he is forcing to do so, their is nothing wrong in your post

Here is the proof for remaining forum members

To omshiv , dude if you want to give advice that's fine but don't criticize other members.

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I do not understand the intention to capture the unused visa numbers.

Getting back on topic. Each fiscal year a number of the allocated permanent residency visas (green cards) do not get used for a number of reasons, such as petition denials and withdrawals, and other bureaucratic delays. Currently, if these visas do not get reallocated and used within the fiscal year they are issued, they are 'gone'. The USCIS ombudsman has published that over the past few years upward of 300,000 permanent residency visas (green cards) have gone unused (cumulative total).

The Senate proposed Immigration Innovation Act 2013 would first "enable the recapture of green card numbers [aforementioned permanent residency visas] that were approved by Congress in previous years but were not used". Note: A few years ago Congress approved recapture of ~190,000 permanent residency visas (green cards) unused from previous years, so there is precedent for the proposed legislation. Second, it would "provide for the roll-over of unused employment-based immigrant visa numbers to the following fiscal year so future visas are not lost due to bureaucratic delays". This means that any unused permanent residency visas (green cards) are carried forward to the next fiscal year instead of being 'gone'.

There have been calculations that recapturing the unused permanent residency visas (green cards) from previous years would make the priority dates for many (if not all) of the backlogged EB2 and EB3 categories current. The changes in the proposed Immigration Innovation Act 2013 (visa numbers recapture, visa numbers rollover, and dependent and STEM quota exemptions) would be huge wins for everyone with approved I-140 petitions waiting in the backlogs, and would also mitigate the potential negative impacts of elimination of per country quotas on some EB categories.

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Who said anything about southern states??? :)

Weak memory. Take Brahmi :)

http://forum.murthy.com/index.php?/topic/52340-why-you-have-choosen-chennai-instead-of-hyderbad-for-visa-interview-bcz-my-case-here-i-am-from-hyderabad/

This is what you said ...

Posted 03 February 2013 - 11:57 AM

snapback.pngsirishach435, on 02 February 2013 - 05:47 AM, said:

becoz Hyderabad consulate officers are said to be grilling each and every individual by suscpecting them as fraud.

Alas..how true that is...I have always mentioning this.

-------------------------------------

And as I know , Hyderabad is considered to be in Southern India.

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Getting back on topic. Each fiscal year a number of the allocated permanent residency visas (green cards) do not get used for a number of reasons, such as petition denials and withdrawals, and other bureaucratic delays. Currently, if these visas do not get reallocated and used within the fiscal year they are issued, they are 'gone'. The USCIS ombudsman has published that over the past few years upward of 300,000 permanent residency visas (green cards) have gone unused (cumulative total).

The Senate proposed Immigration Innovation Act 2013 would first "enable the recapture of green card numbers [aforementioned permanent residency visas] that were approved by Congress in previous years but were not used". Note: A few years ago Congress approved recapture of ~190,000 permanent residency visas (green cards) unused from previous years, so there is precedent for the proposed legislation. Second, it would "provide for the roll-over of unused employment-based immigrant visa numbers to the following fiscal year so future visas are not lost due to bureaucratic delays". This means that any unused permanent residency visas (green cards) are carried forward to the next fiscal year instead of being 'gone'.

There have been calculations that recapturing the unused permanent residency visas (green cards) from previous years would make the priority dates for many (if not all) of the backlogged EB2 and EB3 categories current. The changes in the proposed Immigration Innovation Act 2013 (visa numbers recapture, visa numbers rollover, and dependent and STEM quota exemptions) would be huge wins for everyone with approved I-140 petitions waiting in the backlogs, and would also mitigate the potential negative impacts of elimination of per country quotas on some EB categories.

Thank you for the analysis.

if you could provide some links where this data could be found.

I am surprised at the 300k lost visa numbers in some years. EB? FB?

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Thank you for the analysis. if you could provide some links where this data could be found. I am surprised at the 300k lost visa numbers in some years. EB? FB?

The information and data on unused and recaptured permanent residency visa (green card) numbers was in the USCIS Ombudsman's 2010 report to Congress. You can find the reference and information through a web search (note I only referred to approximate numbers). The number of "lost visa numbers" is not "in some years" (i.e. per fiscal year), it is the cumulative total over the past several years. The number of "lost visa numbers" in any single fiscal year.is far less. The information and data refers to employment based (EB) permanent residency visas (green card) numbers.

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Before USCIS fix the legally entered GC cases, there is an immediate need to fix the illegally enetred kids status. Parents might have came here illegally, that should not punish innocent kids who are turning 18years and suffer for their education. Congress has to fix this at high priority, later consider the GC for legally entered people. I do understand the wait time is long for legally enetered GC cases, but GC will come one day or the other. If we think of kids, they have no hopes nor they have no valid legal status, which will be a bigger and serious issue for schooling.

-Swamy

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