On October 20, by a 14-2 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a proposal to provide temporary relief from the H-1B visa blackout and backlogs in availability of employment based visas.
Among other things, the proposal would provide relief by recapturing unused H-1B numbers from previous years (effectively raising the H-1B cap by 10,000 for the next ten years, employment-based immigrant visa numbers from previous years would also be recaptured and spouses and minor children would no longer be counted against the cap. In addition, individuals would be allowed to apply for adjustment of status before a visa number is available, helping to bridge the gap in time to visa availability. The proposal also includes additional fees for employment based visa petitions, L-1 visas and the H-1B numbers.
However, it will be a challenge to keep the proposal alive in conference with the House committee.
Contact Congress to support this effort and help US companies retain valuable workers. Use the following link to send a letter:
http://capwiz.com/aila2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=8185761
