NewsFlash! Bad News for Pro-Immigration Provisions in Senate Bill 1932
Posted Dec 19, 2005
On December 19, 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives (House) adopted a conference report on Senate Bill 1932 that omitted the pro-immigration provisions contained in the original U.S. Senate version of the bill. The report has not yet been made available to the public, so it is not clear whether any immigrant provisions remain, though the L-1 fee in the House bill was also eliminated. This immigration relief would have benefited both those seeking H1Bs and green cards.
Elimination of Additional Numbers for H1Bs and Green Cards
This means that the provision providing for recapturing 30,000 H1Bs that many were hoping for has been eliminated along with the recapture of unused employment-based (EB) immigrant visa numbers. This later type of recapture of employment-based visa numbers would have addressed, in part, the retrogression problem. With the exclusion of these provisions, the hoped-for relief will not be in the final version of the bill that is sent to the President. Once the conference report is made available to the public, we will be able to confirm whether any immigration provisions survived.
What Does this Mean?
As indicated in our earlier articles on this matter, available on MurthyDotCom, when the Senate and House disagree on the version of the bill, certain negotiated provisions often do not survive in the final version. In this instance, the pro-immigration provisions were eliminated during intense negotiations. While this outcome is disappointing, it is not entirely a surprise. This does not mean that pro-immigration provisions cannot be reintroduced in other legislation. The problems with H1Bs and retrogression still remain and advocates for rational immigration policies and advocates for businesses and employment-based immigration will need to continue to advocate for sufficient numbers to meet the needs of U.S. employers.
What Can We Do?
Everyone, including employers, businesses, business associations, and other interested parties, is urged to contact their senators and representatives and hold them accountable. They should be encouraged to introduce and support bills in Congress to boost employment-based immigration dealing specifically with the H1B increase in quota and returning the unused EB immigrant visa numbers.
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