Highlights of the Senate Immigraiton Bill 744
BORDER SECURITY
The Senate conditioned any of its sweeping immigration changes and legalization of estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently leaving in the United States on several important preconditions, which MUST be fulfilled within the ten-year period before any of the beneficiaries of the new provisional immigrant status would be able to obtain an LPR status.
Ø Almost doubling to 38,405 the current number of Border Patrol agents stationed along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Ø Demanding that 700 miles of pedestrian fencing would be constructed along the U.S.-Mexican border.
Ø Implementing a number of new technological advancements to the Mexican border patrol routine including a specific numbers of surveillance towers, camera systems, ground sensors, radiation detectors, mobile surveillance systems, drones, helicopters, airborne radar systems, planes and ships.
Ø Demanding across-the-board implementation of the E-Verify system for all employers in the United States within a four-year period and making the employers responsible to verify each employee's employment authorization prior to hiring.
Ø Setting up a new electronic system to track people leaving the nation's airports and seaports.
The idea behind the preconditions is to make sure the Executive Branch achieves complete surveillance of the border with Mexico and ensures that at least 90 percent of would-be illegal crossers are caught or turned back.
Ø If the goals of a 90 percent effectiveness rate and continuous surveillance on the border are not met within five years, a Southern Border Security Commission made up of border-state governors and others would determine how to achieve them.
Ø Border security spending in the Bill totals around $46 billion.
PATH TO CITIZENSHIP
The Bill would grant a newly created Registered Provisional Immigrant status (RPI) to the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States. The implementation would start six months after enactment of the bill provided:
Ø The DHS Secretary reports to the Congress and the President that DHS completed development of border security and fencing plans, as spelled out in the Bill.
Ø Freeze the availability of the Bill's RPI status to individuals who arrived to the United States prior to December 31, 2011 and managed to maintained their continuous physical presence in the United States ever since. Brief casual and innocent absences from the USA will not violate continuous physical presence requirement regardless of whether such absences whether authorized by the Secretary.
Ø Restrict availability of the RPI status to individuals without felony, aggravated felony as defined in INA §101(a)(43) conviction or three or more misdemeanors excluding minor traffic violations and misdemeanors under state law for violations of the INA.
Ø Require $500 fine to be paid by each RPI recipient.
RPI status holders would be allowed to work in the U.S. and travel internationally, but would not be eligible for most federal benefits, including health care and welfare.
The RPI status would be granted for six years and would be renewable for another six years with additional $500 in fees.
People deported for noncriminal reasons would be allowed to apply to re-enter the United States in RPI status provided they have a spouse or child who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, or if they had been brought to the U.S. as a child.
Provisional immigrants would be able to seek legal permanent resident status after ten years in the RPI status provided they can demonstrate that they are current on their taxes, maintained continuous physical presence in the United States, employed and learned English. They will be responsible to pay $1000 in additional fees as a precondition to obtaining the legal permanent resident status and will be able to citizenship three years later. Before any of the provisional immigrants would be able to obtain an LPR status the President would have to certify to the Congress that the border security requirements of the Bill have been met.
The Bill would finally implement provisions of the DREAM Act and allow individuals who had been brought to the United States as youths to seek legal permanent resident status in five years, and citizenship immediately thereafter.
HIGH-SKILLED WORKERS
The Bill would correct the student situation by attaching dual intent to the F1 student visas and thus resolving frequent visa denials at the consulates for students when they seek to extend their F1 visas. The dual intent would attach to all students who are in at least in bachelor's degree programs.
The Bill would increase H1B visa CAP from 65,000 visas annually currently to 155,000 visas per year, setting 25,000 more for people with advanced degrees in technology, science and engineering, and mathematics, provided they have graduated from U.S. based colleges and universities. The Bill leaves open the door for further increase in the H1B program with the CAP of up to 180,000 visas annually, if the demands warrants such increase.
The Bills also purports to change H1B worker spouse's situation by allowing H4 derivative visa holders to obtain employment authorization in the USA.
The Bills would require DHS to crack down on companies that use H-1B visas to train workers in the U.S. only to ship them back overseas.
The Bill would expend extraordinary abilities immigrant category to include scientists, professors, researchers, multinational executives and athletes, by exempting them from the existing immigrant visa quotas.
The Bill would exempt from the existing immigrant visa quotas all graduates of U.S. universities with job offers and degrees in science, technology, engineering or math.
The Bill would create a new-entrepreneur visa to facilitate creation of startup companies by foreign entrepreneurs.
The Bill would establish a completely new merit based immigration avenue for up to 250,000 people a year, basing it on points awarded for education, employment, length of residence in the U.S. and other equitable considerations.
The Bill would completely eliminate the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, and channel released 55,000 visas of the program's annual quota to the new point-based system.
LOW-SKILLED WORKERS
The Bill would create a completely new W visa with a quota of up to 200,000 visas per year to be awarded to the low-skilled workers for jobs in construction, long-term care, hospitality and other industries.
The Bill would create completely new agriculture worker visa program, which would completely change and replace the exiting parameters of the H1A visa, extending it to the agriculture workers who are already in the United States including those who are here in violation of their status, provided they have worked in the agricultural field for at least two years, giving them another five years with the option to seek LPR status after that, if they stay in the industry.
FAMILY IMMIGRATION
The Bill would completely eliminate F4 immigration category for siblings of United States citizens and would cap the age of the married sons and daughters of the United States to 31 for purposes of immigrating to the United States .
Expend immediate relative category to souses and children of Legal Permanent Residents thus eliminating the backlogs for these family members who are currently required to wait for years until their priority would become current.
EMPLOYMENT VERIFICATION
The Bill would demand across-the-board implementation of the E-Verify system for all employers in the United States within the four years immediately following the enactment of the Bill into the law and making the employers responsible to verify each employee's employment authorization prior to hiring.