Legislative Update: The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act Passed

Last week, on December 2, 2020, the U.S. Senate passed S. 386, The Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act, by unanimous consent. This bill made changes to the 2019 House version of the bill (HR 1044), but most of the immigration provisions were unchanged. According to congress.gov,

"the bill increases the per-country cap on family based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15%, and eliminates the 7% cap for employment-based immigrant visas. It also removes an offset that reduced the number of visas for individuals from China. The bill also establishes transition rules for employment-based visas from FY2020-FY2022, by reserving a percentage of EB-2 (workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability) and EB-3 (skilled and other workers) visas for individuals not from the two countries with the largest number of recipients of such visas. Of the unreserved visas, not more than 85% shall be allotted to immigrants from any single country."

Because of the updated version, there will need to be negotiations on the new version, or the House could pass a bill with language identical to S.386. Furthermore, Trump would need to sign the bill into law before the end of the year. However, the Senate and House will adjourn soon for the holidays. According to the Tentative 2020 Legislation Schedule which was updated on December 4, 2020, there will be a State Work Period between December 21, 2020 and December 31, 2020.

Nevertheless, this is the only immigration bill to pass the US Senate during President Trump’s time in office. It is notable because it got the support of the entire Senate.

For More Information:

This blog post does not serve as legal advice and does not establish any client-attorney privilege. Do not take any action based on the information contained in this post without consulting a qualified immigration attorney. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our legal team directly.

Find us on LinkedIn.