Bill Eases U.S. Residency for Foreign Skilled Workers

[logan2011]

Hi folks

Yesterday evening the Wall Street Journal carried the following article

Can someone from the Murthy firm let us know what this means?

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The House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday to make it easier for skilled workers to get green cards, a measure that particularly affects employers who want to hire Chinese and Indian nationals

The bill eliminates a limit on the proportion of employment-based visas allocated each year to a particular country.

Under current law, the total number of family-sponsored and employment-based green cards available to individuals from any single country cannot exceed 7% of the total number of green cards issued by the U.S. government each year. Natives of China and India, from where many skilled workers originate, sometimes face year-long waits for green cards—the right to reside in the U.S. permanently.

The bill also raised the cap on family-sponsored green cards for any particular country from 7% to 15% to relieve some of the backlog for relatives of U.S. citizens or residents who are waiting to immigrate.

The bill, which received overwhelming support from both parties, must now go to the Senate for consideration.

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[pgn]

I have been trying to get any information around this. It seems it passed in the House. That means it has to be now introduced in the Senate after which it will be signed into law. I was wondering as to how long will the remaining steps take?