Immigration Reform Bill

sick_of_waiting

Registered Users (C)
I read a news item on 12/24/03 about possible changes in the immigration law to be announced by the White House. The bill is being sponsored by Rep. Kolbe (Ariz.) in Congress and Sen. McCain (Ariz.) in Senate. The changes to be announced by White House in January will probably not be exactly what Sen. McCain's bill had but will have parts of it. He had proposed an H4-B visa for illegal immigrants and H4-A visa for legal immigrants.

Although the information about what the bill has is sketchy, I got the impression that it will help legal immigrants who have worked in the US for at least three years get "permanent residency status" (green card) easily. Illegals will have to wait for 3 years to get that status. Also, another proposed provision is that holders of these visas would be able to sponser "themselves" for green card.

Am I reading it right? Does anyone know of any other proposals in this bill. Is their any relief for H1-B holders waiting (forever) for their green cards. Please contributes with your thoughts and information.

Thanks.

sow
 
You crushed my dreams, man! ;)

Yes, it is only a bill right now and the president could sign it only when it is passed by congress and the senate. But looking at the recent history, the president has been having his way lately. This bill is going to be presented in spring of 2004.

I read every possible news source on the internet over the Christmas break about this bill. The reason for my excitement was a line in a newspaper article according to which legal immigrants already in the country were to be "rewarded" to create an example. But it seems they will be penalized further for their obey-the-law mentality. These illegal folks will increase the workload of DOLs around the country just as Clinton's amnesty did in April 2001, creating a huge backlog in DOLs.

Well, the proposal will be announced by the White House in second week of January before Bush's meeting with Fox. Let us see if it holds anything for us H1-B losers.
 
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