USCIS RELEASES REPORT ON H-1B WORKERS CHARACTERISTICS

USCIS just issued a report to Congress “Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers” for Fiscal Year 2012. Some interesting facts outlined in the report:
1) The number of H-1B petitions filed increased 15% from 267,654 in FY 2011 to 307,713 in FY 2012. Due no doubt to the economic recovery.
2) The number of H-1B petitions approved decreased 3 percent from 269,653 in FY 2011 to 262,569 in FY 2012. Due no doubt to increased scrutiny from USCIS on all H-1B petitions and increased RFEs even though USCIS issued memos not to issue needless RFEs. I suspect in percentages it is actually worse because FY2012 had substantially more filings, so denial rate is probably more than 7% higher overall compared with FY2011.
3) 72% of H-1B petitions approved in FY 2012 were for workers between the ages of 25 and 34.
4) 46% of H-1B petitions approved in FY 2012 were for workers with a bachelor’s degree, 41% had a master’s degree, 8% had a doctorate, and 4 percent were for workers with a professional degree.
5) 61% of H-1B petitions approved in FY 2012 were for workers in computer related occupations followed by engineering and architecture.
6) The median salary of beneficiaries of approved petitions remained at $70,000 for both FYs 2011 and 2012.
7) After the IT industry, the higher education industry commanded the most petitions. The good news is that the higher education positions are cap-exempt.
8) Healthcare workers represent about 5% of the total number of cases.
You can find the full report here.

DOL RELEASES H-1B AND PERM STATISTICS

U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification just issued statistics about FY 20013 year-to-date on the H-1B temporary program. Note that this information only relates to the LCAs, not the final numbers by USCIS. According to their data, so far to date they have received 323,866 LCA applications. They have processed all of them in a timely manner, meaning within the 7 business days as required by their own regulations.
The top 10 occupations were computer related, including computer systems analysts, computer programmer, software developers and computer and information system managers. The next group were accountants, auditors, management and financial analyst and the final group of occupations were engineers.
The state with the most filings was California with almost 120,000 filings, which more than doubled that of New York and Texas with over 55,000 each.
Top employers were consulting companies, including Syntel, Cognizant, Wipro, Infosys, PWC, Tata consulting and Deloitte.
On the PERM front, they have received so far almost 51,000 applications for PERM, out of which 26% have been audited and 11% are pending appeal. So far 25,668 applications were certified, 5,251 were denied and 1,828 were withdrawn. Not great statistics on PERMs... Here again over 56% of the occupations were computer and math related, then architecture and engineering about 11% and management 8%. Top work site was California with 23%, then New Jersey, New York and Texas.

ISSA'S SKILLS ACT PASSES HOUSE JUDICIARY

Great news! The House Judiciary Committee has just passed the Supplying Knowledge Based Immigrants and Lifting Levels of STEM Visa Act (SKILLS Act), sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) along with 20 co-sponsors.
The SKILLS Act would nearly triple the H-1B cap and also increase employment-based green card numbers and add 4,000 immigrant visas for health care occupations, including nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and other allied health care workers who work in rural or undeserved areas.
Unlike the current situation where these employees are subject to 6-7 year backlogs in the EB-3 category, these additional  immigrant visas are immediately available and not subject to retrogression.
This is the first step toward a House comprehensive immigration bill like the one passed in the Senate. However, the House is expected to debate the Senate bill and change many of its provisions. The House may administratively decide to have several smaller bills, rather than one large immigration bill. We hopefully await and see.

IMMIGRATION REFORM IS GOOD FOR ECONOMY

I just read this great Washington Post editorial that argues that restricting the labor market by keeping out immigrant workers is inconsistent with free market principles and is bad for the economy. 
Stephen Moore talks about surveying the top 75 economists on their views on immigration and 9 to 1 are in favor of immigration as good for the economy, with even Milton Friedman, a very conservative economist saying that both legal and illegal immigration has a very positive impact on the U.S. economy.
I liked this part the most: "It is ironic that the right-wingers who argue against protectionism, against the minimum wage, against unions (which inflate wage rates) and against Obamacare want to keep domestic wages artificially high by restricting the labor market (e.g. keeping out immigrant workers). That effort is not only inconsistent with free market principles, but, according to stacks of research, it also is empirically dubious."
Yes, the anti-immigration reform politicians rely on dubious data and "research" to support their position where the evidence points in the other direction.

SUMMARY OF HATCH-SCHUMER DEAL

A couple of days ago I reported about the Hatch-Schumer Deal going through the Senate judiciary committee. Below please find the summary regarding provisions involving H-1B visas courtesy of my colleague Greg Siskind:

Section 4101 changes. The language creates a new concept of having a base H-1B allocation for each fiscal year and then a possible addition to that base number depending on how strong demand is for H-1Bs. The cap will float between 115,000 and 180,000 depending on market conditions.
The base cap is 115,000. The cap can rise based on the following formula:
- If the cap is hit before day 45 then 20,000 more numbers will be made available beginning on day 46
- If the cap is hit between day 46 and 60, then 15,000 more numbers will be made available on day 61
- If the cap is hit between days 61 and day 90, then 10,000 more numbers will be made available on day 91
- If the cap is hit between day 91 and day 275, then 5,000 more numbers will be made available on day 276 The cap can also be lowered based on the following formula:
- If the number of approved petitions is at between 5,000 and 9,999 fewer than the base allocation for that fiscal year, then the base will decrease for the next year by 5,000
- If the number of approved petitions is at between 10,000 and 14,999 fewer than the base allocation for that fiscal year, then the base will decrease for the next year by 10,000
- If the number of approved petitions is at between 55,000 and 19,999 fewer than the base allocation for that fiscal year, then the base will decrease for the next year by 15,000
- If the number of approved petitions is more than 20,000 fewer than the base allocation for that fiscal year, then the base will decrease for the next year by 20,000

Changes Section 4102 regarding work authorization for H-4s.
Previous version only gave EADs to H-4s if their countries reciprocated rights to US employees. New language gives DOS discretion on this issue.

The non-displacement language in Section 4211 is modified and no longer applies to all employers. “For an H-1B skilled worker dependent employer” that is not an H-1B dependent employer, the employer cannot have displaced and will not displace a US worker in the 90 days before and after the filing of the H-1B. H-1B skilled worker dependent employers aren’t subject to the provision unless the employer is filing the petition with the intent or purpose of displacing a US worker from the position to be occupied by the beneficiary of the petition or workers are displaced who provide services at government work sites or are public school teachers. In the case of applications filed by H-1B-dependent employers, the employer did not displace and will not displace a US worker employer by the employer during the period 180 days before and after the filing of the H-1B.
“H-1B Skilled Worker Dependent” means an employer who employs H-1Bs in the US in a number greater than 15% of its full-time equivalent workers in the US employed in jobs in O*NET Job Zone 4 and Job Zone 5. H-1Bs who are intending immigrants don’t count in making this determination. The Hatch amendment makes changes to S.744’s H-1B recruiting requirements. The amendment increases recruiting requirements by adding a provision that says an employer must take “good faith steps” to recruit US workers using procedures that meet industry-wide standards and offering compensation at least as great as that required to be offered to H-1B non-immigrants. The DOL web site recruiting is still required and an additional requirement has been added to require posting positions on a State labor or workforce agency web site.
 There is a significant change in the advertising rules. In the original S.744, the employer must have offered the job to any US worker who applied and is “equally or better qualified” for the job for which the non-immigrant is sought. Now, this requirement only applies to H-1B skilled worker dependent employers. Modifies the rules that exempt counting certain employees from the H-1B dependency count if an employer has filed green card application. Previously, covered employers had to file I-140s for not less than 90% of the people for whom an employer filed a labor certification during the 1-year period ending on the date the employer filed an application for a labor certification for the worker. Labor certification cases pending for longer than a year would be treated as if the employer filed an immigrant status petition. The language is modified and a “covered employer” is an employer that has filed I-140s for not less than 90% of current employees who were the beneficiaries of labor certifications that were approved during the 1-year period ending 6 months before the filing of an application for which the number of intending immigrants is relevant.

A new Section 4225 is added and is entitled “Transparency of High-Skilled Immigration Programs.”

The new Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research shall submit an annual report to Congress providing data on H-1B beneficiaries and employers.  A similar report on L-1s is to be prepared annually. An additional annual report is to be prepared describing the methods employers are using to meet the good faith recruiting requirements.

Section 4236 is modified to state that the non-displacement provisions do not apply to petitions filed on behalf of existing employees.

There is a new Section 4237 entitled “Portability for Beneficiaries of Immigrant Petitions.”

Changes the adjustment portability rules. Regardless of whether an employer withdraws an EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 petition, the petition shall remain valid with respect to a new job if the beneficiary changes jobs or employers after the petition is approved and the new job is in the same or a similar occupation for which the petition was approved. Current law requires the petition to be pending 180 days before portability kicks in. The employer’s legal obligation with respect to the petition shall terminate at the time the beneficiary changes jobs or employers.

DOL shall develop a method for enabling workers to verify that a new job is in a same or similar occupation.

In a very important change, concurrent adjustment applications are available even if a visa number is not available. In such a case, a supplemental fee of $500 will be collected. Applicants filed under this provision cannot be approved until a visa number becomes available.

SB744 GETS OUT OF JUDICIARY

Good news, the immigration reform bill SB744 got out of the Senate judiciary committee yesterday with a few wonderful amendments. 

One great amendment included adding the dual intent language to students (F-1), exchange visitors (J-1) which includes foreign doctors, E, O, P, V or W. 

It also allows for a waiver for people previously removed in some cases. 

There was a settlement between Senators Hatch and Schumer on H-1B cap - to go up to 180,000 based on market demand/need. 

Also, increased portability for people applying for employment-based green cards and other provisions which are mostly positive. 

Now the vote... 

H-1B AMENDMENTS TO THE IMMIGRATION LAW DO NOT PASS JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Last week I reported on a number of proposed changes to the H-1B visa rules that are part of the new immigration law proposal by the Gang of Eight.
The discussions were part of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup of the bill. Senators pitched several amendments, including positive ones such as from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) to increase the limit five-fold to 300,000, after he called the legislation as a “a step in the right direction" but not nearly enough even with the cap of 180,000 being “arbitrarily low.” However, this amendment was voted down 15-4 by the committee.
There were also amendments by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), calling to ease the extra requirements for H-1B employers this new bill would impose, saying the U.S. cannot supply enough skilled workers, but this also feel through.
So right now the original proposals is staying in the bill markup.

HIGH TECH COMPANIES PUSH FOR H-1B AMENDMENT IN SENATE BILL

Another clash between two interest groups in Washington, D.C. as the debate over immigration reform continues.
What is going on with mark-ups in the Senate on the immigration reform bill is that High-tech companies that need to bring more skilled workers to the U.S. are pushing for more concessions. The main issue of contention between the high tech groups and the unions is proposals by one of the bill's sponsors Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to add a number of restrictions on the program first, including trying to recruit for U.S. workers first. While the overall goal of the legislation is good, and will increase the number of H-1B visas, the price to pay for these amendments may be too high for many companies that use this visa to recruit talent, especially in IT, computer software, engineering, and other positions in shortage.
However, the labor unions claim that Silicon Valley had already gotten enough in the legislation and further changes risked chipping away at protections for U.S. workers. This argument is ridiculous because unemployment in these occupations is generally less than 3% which is nothing more than people moving between jobs in normal economical terms. The reason that Sen. Durbin added these restriction to the bill in the first place was to garner wide support especially from the unions for passage of the bill.
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah has stepped up to help the tech companies, proposing many amendments to help ease the requirements of the H-1B visa program, not increase them. He may be a swing vote on the immigration bill so the bill sponsors would like to get his support, and Utah is becoming a major high-tech employer.
The good thing about the bill would be that the H-1B cap would be raised from the current 65,000 annually to 110,000, with the potential to adjust upward to 180,000 depending on how many visa applications are received and what the unemployment rate is. However, High-tech companies say the unemployment rate should not be a factor because it might not reflect actual demand for skilled workers, which especially in IT has historically been very low. There is also concern that the companies would have to recruit U.S. workers first, a condition that is not required under the law right now. It makes sense for H-1B dependent employers which are those who have a large percentage of H-1B workers but not on most employers whose H-1B employees rate is less than 15%.
Other positive provisions in the bill exempt advanced degrees STEM graduates from U.S. schools, from annual limits on the permanent resident visas and creates a new visa for foreign entrepreneurs coming to the U.S. to start companies. Overall the bill is good but the restrictions on H-1B employment should go away.

USCIS FINISHED ENTERING H-1B RECEIPTS FOR FY2014 - IS SENDING REJECTION NOTICES

AILA reports that USCIS Service Center Operations indicated that as of Friday, May 10th all data entry was completed and receipt notices have been sent. If receipt notices are not issued or received, it probably means that the case was rejected or not selected in the lottery for H-1B cases for FY2014.
Rejection notices have also started to be sent out and they request to allow until the end of May for delivery of receipt or rejection notices.

CBP DOES AWAY WITH I-94S

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) started implementing the automated version of Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record, at air and sea ports of entry. Implementation will continue across the nation through May 21, to include air and sea ports of entry that support international arrivals.
CBP will stop giving away I-94s and instead stamp each foreign national's passport with the entry date, admission status and expiration date listed on the admission stamp and enter all their data into the electronic system. The individuals will be able to access their electronic Form I-94 by visiting www.cbp.gov/I94 and print out their I-94s.
As evidence of lawful admission submitted with a benefit request, USCIS will accept the electronic Form I-94 in paper format obtained from CBP’s website as equivalent to the paper versions of Form I-94. In lieu of submitting the electronic Form I-94 in paper format, USCIS will also accept photocopies of the passport pages that contain the individual’s biographical information, visa and admission stamp.
We'll have to wait and see how smooth this process will actually be...

SOME NON-CAP H-1B CASES TAKE 30 DAYS OR MORE FOR RECEIPTS

AILA is reporting that NCSC has indicated that non-cap H-1B and other Form I-129 receipting is taking 30 days or more.
AILA Liaison is raising the reported delay in receipting with service centers and Service Center Operations at USCIS HQ. This is a problem for visa extension, AC21 portability for H-1B cases etc. so it must be addressed very quickly - even E-Verify may not match if there is no new receipt.
I will update as I know more.
Another H-1B cap update as of today we have received all but a few of the H-1B cap case receipts and even a few approval notices for NON-PREMIUM H-1B cap cases! This is amazing speed from USCIS!

BILL GATES, STEVE BALLMER, BRAD SMITH AND SEAN PARKER JOIN ZUCKERBERG SUPERPAC

In a great move of support for Mark Zuckerberg's new SuperPac or political advocacy group for immigration reform called FWD.us four tech giants have joined to render their names and support: Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Brad Smith (CEO of Intuit) and Sean Parker (Napster's co-founder who also helped Zuckerberg in the early Facebook days).
It's a great show of support for the topic Zuckerberg is spearheading and a great opportunity for these technology giants to put their money where their mouths are... Two thumbs up!
http://allthingsd.com/20130426/please-welcome-bill-gates-steve-ballmer-brad-smith-and-sean-parker-to-the-zuckerpac/

H-1B RECEIPTS SLOWLY TRICKLING

So far we have received all of our U.S. master's cap H-1B cases filed on the April 1 week. Our clients with the U.S. master's cap were very lucky and they all got selected in the lottery.
Now we are slowly also getting cases from the regular H-1B cap, but only a small percentage so far of receipt notices compared to the cases that we filed.
USCIS expects to send receipt notices well into May for cap cases.
I hope our H-1B regular cap clients are as lucky as the master's ones!
Update soon to follow.

SISKIND'S SUMMARY OF IMMIGRATION REFORM ACT

Please read the very thoughtful analysis from my law partner Greg Siskind's summary section by section of the Immigration reform act introduced today at the Senate:

http://discuss.ilw.com/content.php?1706-Blogging-Section-by-Section-Summary-of-Senate-Immigration-Bill-Title-II-Legal-Immigration-Reform-by-Greg-Siskind

USCIS RECEIVED APPROXIMATELY 124,000 H-1B PETITIONS

USCIS received approximately 124,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period from April 1, 2013 to April 5, 2013, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. On April 7, 2013, USCIS conducted its lottery (computer-generated random selection process) to select the 85,000 petitions (probably a number closer to 82,000 petitions) to fill the cap.
For cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, USCIS will reject and return the petition with filing fees. The agency conducted the selection process for advanced degree exemption petitions first. All advanced degree petitions not selected were part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.
So, this means that applicants have about 67% or about 2 out of 3 changes of getting selected. Not great at all.

H-1B CAP FOR 2014 REACHED; LOTTERY WILL HAPPEN

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced late Friday that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for fiscal year (FY) 2014. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption.
USCIS will not accept H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2014 cap or the advanced degree exemption after Friday April 5, 2013. USCIS will use their lottery system (a computer-generated random selection process) among all FY 2014 cap-subject petitions received through April 5, 2013. They will run a lottery on the advanced degree cases first and then all the advanced degrees not selected will join the pool with the other cases.
USCIS received very high volume and they do not know yet what date the lottery results will be announced.  Also, USCIS is not providing the total number of petitions received, so no one knows as of yet.
Congress, what more proof do you need that we need more H-1B numbers???

ILW.COM PREDICTS H-1B VISAS WILL NOT RUN OUT NEXT WEEK

Despite USCIS' announcement last week that anticipated H-1B usage may trigger a lottery for all H-1B petitions that are receipted by April 5, 2013, Immigration Law Weekly through its daily newsletter Immigration Daily stands by its observation that a lottery will likely not be triggered.  ILW believes that usage numbers for this season are headed higher than the previous season, but are still not large enough to trigger a lottery.
ILW's prediction stems from the fact that less than a dozen companies account for the vast majority of the new numbers, all of these companies are in the IT sector, and only these companies matter in projecting whether a lottery will be triggered or not (e.g., Microsoft). As best as ILW can tell, none of these companies are intending to file the kinds of numbers necessary to trigger a lottery - despite the fact that a whole lot more petitions, which would last year have been L petitions, are being filed this year as Hs.
I hope this is true because clients are coming out of the woodwork to get H-1B petitions filed, although we worked out a plan to get all of our cap cases filed today for delivery early next week.

FACEBOOK'S ZUCKERBERG ORGANIZING SUPER PAC FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

According to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is organizing a Super PAC - political advocacy group for immigration reform issues that are near and dear to the tech community in the area. According to the San Francisco Chronicle Zuckerberg is ready to personally invest up to $20 million, and other technology leaders in the area may follow his suit. If this new advocacy group is going to be registered as a nonprofit, it could also be treated as a Super PAC – which is exempt from some donor disclosure rules, thanks to the 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FEC.
Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert made powerful examples against allowing Super PACs to continue during his coverage of the 2012 presidential elections last year. However, since Congress is unlikely to do anything about that any time soon, I am very happy that some of the tech leaders are putting serious money towards immigration reform specifically needed to combat our legal immigration crisis – no sufficient H-1B visas and immigrant visas for legal, skilled, professional and advanced degree workers.

USCIS EXPECTS H-1B CAP TO BE REACHED BY APRIL 5

USCIS recently announced that it expects to receive more than the 85,000 petitions than the H-1B cap allows for the entire year between April 1, 2013 and April 5, 2013.
This is confirming our empirical data of handling a larger volume of H-1B cases this year that the cap will most likely be reached in early April, perhaps even on the first day.
Because USCIS expects to receive a large number of H-1B cases in the first week of April, they announced that they will be suspending the premium processing program for H-1B cap cases by 15 days, and will allow premium processing of these cases starting on April 15, 2013 or later.
If more cases than the cap allows for are receipted, a lottery system that was utilized in previous years will take place by randomly selecting a certain number of petitions and rejecting the ones not selected.
Requesting premium processing service does not guarantee lottery selection or an advantage in that process if a lottery will happen.
We are working very hard to make sure all of our cases will be filed on April 1, 2013.
Call us at 770-913-0800 or go to http://www.visalaw.com/atlanta.html to contact us if you have any questions.

IMMIGRATION REFORM FOR PHYSICIANS

With the immigration reform debate going on in Congress and in the media these days, few efforts are being made to improve the physician shortage and the shortage faced in other healthcare workers like nurses and technicians. The U.S. already employs a substantial proportion of physicians and other health workers (between 20%-25%) who were educated or trained overseas, and we could employ more of them without taking jobs away from Americans. As the nation ages and more previously uninsured individuals seek treatment under the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), the health of millions of Americans may depend on the availability of more physicians and health workers from abroad.
There is already a significant shortage of physicians and healthcare workers in rural areas and inner cities. HHS has almost 6,000 primary medical health professional shortage areas which would need about 16,000 physicians to cover the medical needs of patients living in these areas. The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates a shortage of over 90,000 physicians, including 45,000 primary care physicians, by the end of 2020. There just are not enough medical schools in the U.S. to meet this demand.
Granting additional temporary and permanent visas to international medical graduates would meet our national interest and help alleviate physician shortages across the country. For one, hospitals and medical clinics located in a health professionals shortage area should be granted an exemption from the H-1B cap so that they could hire physicians all year long. Also, we need to increase the green card quotas for physicians from India and China whose permanent residency cases are dragging for years on end due to per-country limits on immigrant visas. Removing barriers and allowing international medical graduates to get to the U.S. quicker will help alleviate the shortage and help many Americans receive quality healthcare no matter where they live.

H-1B SEASON FOR APRIL 1, 2013 FILINGS

It's H-1B season again with everyone in our office working very hard to make sure all of our H-1B cap cases are going to be filed on time by April 1, 2013. For our many clients who have been waiting around since last June when the cap was reached, it is a good time.

April 1, 2013 represents the first day when H-1B petitioning employers and H-1B employees will be able to apply to USCIS for an H-1B petition for employment in government fiscal year 2014 (which starts on October 1, 2014). All H-1B visas for FY2013 have already been exhausted as of June 2012.
Employers who wish to hire professionals utilizing the H-1B visa program and employees who are looking for visa sponsorship will have to act much quicker this year than before. While we do not think that the H-1B cap will be reached on the first day available (April 1, 2013), we do think the cap will be reached in April and we are planning to file all of our cases on April 1 or April 2, 2013, so we do not take any chances.
Remember, these are for H-1B visas for start date on October 1, 2013, but USCIS allows people to file up to 6 months in advance. It is important to file in advance for two important reasons: one, by October 1, all the visas will be gone. Second reason is that students in F-1 OPT status can receive an automatic extension of stay and ability to continue working throughout October 1, 2013 if they file on time for a change of status from F to H-1B.
Our firm continues to help employers to obtain H-1B visas for their employees and we urge everyone that is interested to contact our office as soon as possible to start the process to secure their visas. Please call 770-913-0800 or e-mail atlanta@visalaw.com or go to Our office URL which is http://www.visalaw.com/atlanta.html 

TECHNOLOGY VIRTUAL MARCH FOR INNOVATION

The technology industry will use social media for a virtual march on Washington so it can win support for very needed immigration reform. The March for Innovation, launched by the Partnership for a New Economy with technology and venture capital leaders is designed to build grass-roots support for providing visas to high-skilled workers and entrepreneurs, and giving green cards to foreigners who graduate from U.S. universities with advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math.

NEW IMMIGRATION INNOVATION ACT GREAT FOR PROFESSIONALS

The new immigration innovation act, also called ISquared proposed in the Senate contains a number of great fixes to the backlogs and shortages in the H-1B visa category and the green card categories for professional workers.
The first piece of good news is that the H-1B visa cap would immediately increase to 115,000 per year and allow for additional visas if the cap is reached within the fiscal year. Market based demand versus the fixed low number of 85,000 we have today.
Also, the proposal allows for unlimited H-1B visas for people with advanced degree graduates of American universities and unlimited green cards for them also. Woohoo!
There is great support for this bill out of the business community. Great news for a change!

COLLEGE-EDUCATED IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES

A recent report by Qingqing Ji and Jeanne Batalova for Migration Policy Institute paints an interesting picture about college-educated immigrants in the United States.
Contrary to a widely held view, immigrants in the United States have an expansive range of education levels, with about one in three immigrants having obtained a college degree.
Among the key highlights:

• One in six college-educated adults was born abroad. 
• The college-educated immigrant population grew faster than their native counterparts in the 1990s and 2000s. 
• College-educated immigrants were younger than their native counterparts. 
• Almost three-quarters of foreign-born, college-educated adults were Asian and white. 
• About 17 percent of college-educated immigrants were of Latino origin. 
• The foreign born were more likely to hold a doctorate or professional degree than the native born. 
• Of the 9.4 million college-educated foreign born, one-third arrived in the last 11 years. 
• Over half of all college-educated immigrants came from Asia, with India, the Philippines, and China being the top three origin countries. 
• College-educated immigrants were more likely to be unemployed than the native born. 
• About one in ten college-educated adults was self-employed. 
• Foreign-born, college-educated workers were more likely to be in high-tech, science, or engineering occupations.

It is amazing that such a large percentage of our college-educated people living in the United States were born abroad. Unfortunately, the immigration system in our country prevents many qualified college graduates to get here and remain here. It's time for immigration reform!