Full text of STRIVE

[GotPR?]

Somebody in asylum section posted full pdf text of STRIVE.
Jump to page 384 where EB provision starts.
I guess this provides you good weekend reading.

 

[Jackolantern]

3 year EADs? 290K green cards + exemption for spouses and children + exemption for STEM degrees + a bag of chips. Waaaaaaaay too generous to become law. I just hope they use this merely as a starting point for negotiation, rather than pushing this bill as THE thing and have it drop dead in the water forever.

If it is just a negotiating point, they have lots of room to back off and still end up with changes that would make a major difference to retrogression.

 

[indian_gc_ocean]

I am not sure if uscis with their workforce and infrastructure can handle disproportionate increase in visas (H2C) and other mentioned provisions. Only language that uscis can easily understand is visa numbers. All other laws/provisions without proper implementation details usually result in enormous delays in fitting into their age old immigration system, may be at least it helps politicians gain some votes amongst the confusion.

Hope there will be enough debate on how to implement these laws this time, else we will be left with uscis own implementation as always. Without this, people will be slogging in backlog centers, going around senators for timely EAD approvals, unable to file mondamus when unfortunately stuck in name checks....

 

[tusharvk]

summary is available both at oh's website and fdbl.com

One thing that is curious is why no direct path to citizenship has been proposed to EB legal immigrants. only talk of increasing EB numbers, exemption of dependents, ability to file 485 with no numbers available, etc.

 

[gcwhenever]

One thing that is curious is why no direct path to citizenship has been proposed to EB legal immigrants. only talk of increasing EB numbers, exemption of dependents, ability to file 485 with no numbers available, etc.

yes this is exactly what I am finding strange: it's bizarre that illegals have a provision for citizenship after 5 years of being legal. By that reasoning, legals, many of whom have already been here for 5+ years, thru no fault of theirs are not being given this provision in this bill.
If the bill were fair, all of us who have been here this long should be able to apply directly for citizenship, not for gcs.
Instead, not only are we not getting citizenship, we are not even getting gcs directly. All we are getting is some increase in visa numbers.
pathetic...

clearly shows how low priortiy legals are in this system: they want to get a "vibrant economy" by hiring orange pickers, not hiring skilled workers

 

[Jackolantern]

yes this is exactly what I am finding strange: it's bizarre that illegals have a provision for citizenship after 5 years of being legal.

You didn't read the details of the bill. They don't get citizenship after 5 years. They get the chance to self-sponsor for a green card after 5 years of being legal. Of course, that still makes them better off than us EB2/3 immigrants who don't ever get to self-sponsor, but it's not quite as far as direct citizenship.

In addition, the legalization provisions and guest worker program won't take effect until after the border security and internal enforcement have been increased to the specified levels ... which may never occur. Whereas our EB provisions for 290K and the spouse/child exemptions aren't dependent on that (while it doesn't explicitly say that the EB changes don't have to wait for the enforcement measures, the fact that they explicitly stated the enforcement requirements in the other sections, without saying it in Title V, suggests that Title V doesn't have to wait for the enforcement criteria).

 

[gcwhenever]

You didn't read the details of the bill. They don't get citizenship after 5 years. They get the chance to self-sponsor for a green card after 5 years of being legal. Of course, that still makes them better off than us EB2/3 immigrants who don't ever get to self-sponsor, but it's not quite as far as direct citizenship.

In addition, the legalization provisions and guest worker program won't take effect until after the border security and internal enforcement have been increased to the specified levels ... which may never occur. Whereas our EB provisions for 290K and the spouse/child exemptions aren't dependent on that (while it doesn't explicitly say that the EB changes don't have to wait for the enforcement measures, the fact that they explicitly stated the enforcement requirements in the other sections, without saying it in Title V, suggests that Title V doesn't have to wait for the enforcement criteria).

correct, they have to wait for citizenship. plus they can self-sponsor.
But the touchback provision is saying that if they leave the country to Canada or Mexico and return, they become eligible for gcs and eventually citizenship.
So 5 years after they get their gcs, they become naturalized citizens.
But because they can self-sponsor, they will get their gcs much faster than us. Because most of us had to wait for 1-2 years before our employers would sponsor us for gcs.

By extension, this should provide us citizenship as soon as we get our gcs, because we have already been here for 5+ years, and only reason we have not got our gcs is bec of govt inefficiencies and employer delays. Otherwise many of us would have got our gcs 5 years ago, and would be eligible for citizenship today.

If this bill was fair, they would provide citizenship for us without waiting another 5 years after gc.

In fact, this bill is going to lead to a whole new set of problems:
The best option for legals, if this bill passes, is to quit our current jobs, get a new worker H2-c visa, and then self-sponsor. PD will go back, but at least we will be subject to the option of changing jobs and self-applying.
So we will have the freedom that we are all looking for, and then who cares hwo long gc takes?

So, unless they provide more than visa numbers for legals, there will be more problems than solutions

 

[indian_gc_ocean]

suggests that Title V doesn't have to wait for the enforcement criteria).

This also means that the current allocation of visas would continue unitl such enforcement time and even with the increased number of visas, there would not be great benefit for the retrogressed countries as long as country quotas are followed.

 

[gcwhenever]

also the bill says for H2-c workers:
"an alien described in paragraph (1)(B) shall be considered, at the time of obtaining the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, to have obtained such status on a conditional basis for a period not to exceed two years subject to the provisions of this sub18 section."

so they are in gc status as soon as they apply

really makes no sense to stay on H-1b

 

[Jackolantern]

also the bill says for H2-c workers:
"an alien described in paragraph (1)(B) shall be considered, at the time of obtaining the status of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence, to have obtained such status on a conditional basis for a period not to exceed two years subject to the provisions of this sub18 section."

so they are in gc status as soon as they apply

really makes no sense to stay on H-1b

Nope. Obtaining the status a lawfully admitted permanent resident means they've been approved for a green card, not merely applied.

 

[Jackolantern]

correct, they have to wait for citizenship. plus they can self-sponsor.
But the touchback provision is saying that if they leave the country to Canada or Mexico and return, they become eligible for gcs and eventually citizenship.
So 5 years after they get their gcs, they become naturalized citizens.
But because they can self-sponsor, they will get their gcs much faster than us. Because most of us had to wait for 1-2 years before our employers would sponsor us for gcs.

They have to work 5 years before they can self-sponsor. That is not less than the 1-2 years we wait for an employer to sponsor us.

 

[Jackolantern]

Stop worrying about a flood of illegals squashing the system, and don't get your hopes up about a 290K EB quota plus the various exemptions. There is no way the STRIVE bill will pass in this political climate without some serious paring down of the number of visas offered.

My prediction for the final version of this bill (or whatever bill eventually goes to the president):

- EB green cards: Same 140K quota, but with recapture from prior years and spouse and child exemptions
- H1B: No change
- Amnesty: nothing
- H2C visas: 200K per year, must be applied from outside the US unless already inside the US legally. No opportunity for green card.
- Fence will be built along the border.
- Stricter penalties for employers who hire illegals. But actual enforcement will be sporadic, not much better than it is now.

 

[qplearn]

Stop worrying about a flood of illegals squashing the system, and don't get your hopes up about a 290K EB quota plus the various exemptions. There is no way the STRIVE bill will pass in this political climate without some serious paring down of the number of visas offered.

My prediction for the final version of this bill (or whatever bill eventually goes to the president):

- EB green cards: Same 140K quota, but with recapture from prior years and spouse and child exemptions

Can anyone estimate how many additional visas will be available if the above turns out to be true? I am guessing they will discount the spouses and children from 2004, which will probably mean 200K additional visas. It is not clear how many visas can be recaptured from previous years... perhaps 50K. I am not sure if 250K new visas will reduce retrogression much given the size of the current backlog.

 

[tusharvk]

I would say STEM exemption stands more chance than spouse and child exemptions. But STEM would most probably only cover phds from US univs. not masters.

My prediction for the final version of this bill (or whatever bill eventually goes to the president):

- EB green cards: Same 140K quota, but with recapture from prior years and spouse and child exemptions
- H1B: No change
- Amnesty: nothing
- H2C visas: 200K per year, must be applied from outside the US unless already inside the US legally. No opportunity for green card.
- Fence will be built along the border.
- Stricter penalties for employers who hire illegals. But actual enforcement will be sporadic, not much better than it is now.

 

[gcwhenever]

Nope. Obtaining the status a lawfully admitted permanent resident means they've been approved for a green card, not merely applied.

you are correct, my mistake.

and you are right in that with self-sponsorship they still have to wait 5 years, more than the 1-2 years we had to wait.
but they have the additional option of employer sponsorship earlier.

self-sponsorship and ability to change jobs is not a small benefit

 

[Jackolantern]

I would say STEM exemption stands more chance than spouse and child exemptions. But STEM would most probably only cover phds from US univs. not masters.

The way US immigration has long been tilted to benefit families over skills, I think the spouse and child exemption stands a better chance than STEM.

 

[ordinaria]

It shouldn't be a competiton between legal and illegal immigrants.
The bottom line is that if this bill passes, both groups will be better off.
The intention is good. Let's see the result.

 

[GotPR?]

HR1645 is now on thomas.loc.gov.


BTW, nobody mentioned, but there is allocation change for limit per country and EB category.
Since quota gets increased and dependent exempted, it helps, but EB1/2 may not get as much as EB3.


Per country limit change

SEC. 502. INCREASING COUNTRY LIMITS AND EXEMPTING FAMILY-SPONSORED AND EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANTS.

Section 202(a)(2) (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2)) is amended by striking `may not exceed 7 percent' and all that follows and inserting `, except for aliens described in subsections (b) and (d)(2)(A) of section 201, may not exceed 10 percent (in the case of a single foreign state) or 5 percent (in the case of a dependent area) of the total number of such visas made available under such subsections in that fiscal year.'.




EB category limit change.

(b) Preference Allocation for Employment-Based Immigrants- Section 203(b) (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) is amended--

(1) in paragraph (1), by striking `28.6 percent' and inserting `15 percent';

(2) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking `28.6 percent' and inserting `15 percent';

(3) in paragraph (3)(A)--

(A) by striking `28.6 percent' and inserting `35 percent'; and

(B) by striking clause (iii);