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New US Immigration Bill can help Foreign Tech Workers
A proposal to create a dual green-card system that favors high-tech talent has
bipartisan support in the Senate.
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators next week is expected to introduce to the
immigration reform bill an amendment that proposes to retain a pool of 140,000
employer-sponsored green cards for foreign workers seeking permanent residency
in the United States.
Amendment S.1249 -- being co-sponsored by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; John
Cornyn, R-Texas; Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Orrin Hatch, R-Pa.; and Robert Bennett,
R-Utah -- proposes that the United States create a dual green-card system that,
in addition to a new merit-point green card system that's proposed in the main
bill, would also keep an annual pool of 140,000 employer-sponsored green cards
for foreign workers.
The revised legislation also proposes the United States establish no limit on
H-1B visas for foreign professionals with master's or doctoral degrees in
science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM fields.
"This would set up a complementary and parallel employer-sponsored system to
the merit system," said Robert Hoffman, Oracle's VP of government affairs and
co-chair of Compete America, a coalition of technology companies. "This system
would be more like Australia's," where immigration is granted in dual programs
that includes employer-based sponsorship and merit points.
By the United States retaining a system allowing employer-based green cards
to be issued each year, businesses would have better control over the talent
they'd like to keep in the country, say tech employers.
Read full article at InformationWeek
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