Bill Aims to End Decades-Long Waits for Highly-Skilled Immigrants

A new bill, The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019has been introduced to address the wait time for immigrants to the United States. Under the current system, the number of immigrant visas that are granted to nationals of any one country cannot exceed 7% of the total number of employment-based and family-based visas, meaning that nationals from countries with a larger number of individuals awaiting immigrant visas, such as India and China, wait for decades to receive their green cards. For employment-based immigrants, the Bill would implement a first-come, first-served system to replace the current per-country system, eventually clearing out USCIS’s current backlog of employment-based immigrant visa petitions.