H.R. 5744 -- Skil Bill at House !!

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Shadegg Introduces ‘Skil Bill’ To Keep American Workforce Competitive
Rep. Shadegg – “We stand to potentially lose the next technological giants like Yahoo! or Google if we do not keep America’s workforce competitive.”


Washington, Jun 30 - As the United States works to maintain its economic competitive edge, U.S. Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) introduced legislation yesterday to help retain the innovative minds of foreign-born nationals here in the United States.


“We have benefited greatly from the many foreign-born scientists, engineers, health care professionals, and teachers that help keep America moving forward,” said Shadegg, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “To our detriment, current policy mandates that we educate and train these brilliant individuals and then send them away to other countries to compete against us.”


H.R. 5744, The Securing Knowledge, Innovation, and Leadership (SKIL) Act, addresses this growing problem by increasing the allotment of H-1B visas, returning to the prior, higher level of 115,000, with potential for future increases. The bill would also allow foreign nationals who graduate from U.S. universities to stay in America and contribute to our economy by joining the American workforce.


“Unfortunately, we are not graduating the number of Americans with advanced degrees in math and sciences that our high tech and medical industries need to compete. Until we can fix the problem of not having enough highly skilled American graduates, we need to pass the SKIL Bill.”


Shadegg went on to say, “We stand to potentially lose the next technological giants like Yahoo! or Google if we do not keep America’s workforce competitive. We must maintain our edge by providing opportunities to highly educated and skilled individuals interested in staying here in the U.S.”


In 2005, foreign nationals earned more than 40 percent of the master’s degrees and 60 percent of the doctorate degrees in engineering awarded by U.S. universities.
http://johnshadegg.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=46437
 
This is senate version of SKIL Bill

The “SKIL” Bill
Short Title: Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership (SKIL)
Title I – Access to High Skilled Foreign Workers
Section 101. H-1B Visa Holders
Exempts professionals who have earned advanced degrees (e.g. Master’s degree or higher) from accredited United States universities and those who have been awarded a medical specialty certification based on post-doctoral training and experience in the United States from the annual H-1B cap.
Section 102. Market-Based Visa Limits
Raises the H-1B (specialty occupation) cap from 65,000 to 115,000 and creates a flexible system that adjusts with the market.
Title II – Retaining Foreign Workers Educated in the United States
Section 201. United States Educated Immigrants.
Exempts U.S.-educated professionals with advanced degrees and those who have been awarded a medical specialty certification based on post-doctoral training and experience in the United States from the annual green card (i.e. immigrant visa) cap.
Exempts from the green card cap workers of extraordinary ability (e.g. Nobel Prize winners), and outstanding researchers and professors.
Exempts professionals who have earned advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering or math, and who worked in the U.S. for at least three years in a related field,from the immigrant visa cap.
Exempts spouse and minor children of professionals from the employment-based cap.
Section 202. Immigrant Visa Backlog Reduction.
Raises the immigrant visa (i.e. green card) cap from 140,000 to 290,000 and allows unused visas to fall forward annually.
Retains current green card allocation so that majority of visas (57%) are reserved for highly-educated/skilled workers.
Section 203. Student Visa Reform.
Many employers seek to hire U.S. educated students full-time upon graduation, and this change would enable the employer to start the green card process while the foreign
worker is on a student visa (F-1) during Optional Practical Training (OPT). Codifies post-graduate OPT, which will allow U.S. educated foreign students to work in their field for up to two years after graduation.
Section 204. L-1 Visa Holders Subject to Visa Backlog.
Allows an extension of an L-1 (intracompany transfer) visa beyond the fifth or seventh year if the individual has a green card application pending and is simply caught in the green card backlog. This extension is currently allowed for H-1B (specialty occupation) visa holders, but not for L-1 visa holders.
Section 205. Retaining Workers Subject to Green Card Backlog.
Allows foreign workers who have started the green card process, but who are subject to green card backlogs, to pay a $500.00 supplemental fee to file an application to adjust status. This change would enable foreign workers to remain in the U.S. until the green card becomes available.
Title III – Business Facilitation Through Immigration Reform
Section 301. Streamlining the Adjudication Process for Established Employers.
Requires the creation of a pre-certification program that streamlines the adjudication process, and reduces paperwork burdens, for employers with a track record of compliance and who file multiple applications.
Section 302. Providing Premium Processing of Employment-Based Visa Petitions.
Requires USCIS to allow employers to file a “premium processing” fee for expedited adjudication of employment-based immigrant petitions, as well as for administrative appeals of any decision on an employment-based immigrant petition.
Section 303. Eliminating Procedural Delays in Labor Certification Process.
Requires the Department of Labor to process all applications filed prior to the electronic PERM system within six months of enactment. Clarifies the Department of Labor’s process in providing prevailing wage determinations and requires the Department ofLabor to establish a website to post open job orders.
Title IV. Miscellaneous
Section 401. Completion of Background and Security Checks.
Requires that no immigration application may be approved until the appropriate
background and security checks are completed and any allegations of fraud have been resolved.
Section 402. Visa Revalidation/Renewal.
Allows temporary workers who have not violated their status to renew their visa from within the United States.
Section 403. Severability.
Clarifies that if any part of this act is determined to be invalid it will have no effect on the remainder of the provisions.
 
BrainDrain said:
Lot of bills sounds good as this bill but I guess only the next generation will be benefitted if at all.
Click to expand...

i am sorry to say but lots of bills dont sound good to me. This bill has some support and has better chances than the CIR.

I am not saying the CIR wont pass but even if it passes may not have anything for legals.
 
Also the best thing that i like about this bill compared to CIR is the following:

Retains current green card allocation so that majority of visas (57%) are reserved for highly-educated/skilled workers
 
SKIL house bill and S.2611

By no long stretch of imagination.... it's clear that there are several similarities between the SKIL HR5744 and the senate version S2611. that itself means there's a good chance of it becoming a bill IF AND ONLY IF the HR5744 is passed by the house of reps. It's all upto them now, so lets starting sending our state reps our support emails and support letters. we can make it happen.
 
I just dropped my state rep. an email asking for her support. It's a small step, but an important one. I think the more of us who take the time to write emails and letters will result in larger impacts.

www.house.gov if you want to look up your state rep, just enter the zip code and it finds it for you.
 
Denverite,
Thanks for the link, I have sent out emails and letters to my state Rep and to my state senator.
All ye "legal and skilled" professionals who are suffering from the retrogression.... remember the pen is mightier than the .... well we all know the rest of it, so come on do ur best, write to your state's Rep and Senators...
 
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