Bill in US House to clear backlog of employment visas
Thousands of Indians working in America have welcomed the recent Bill introduced in the US House of Representatives by Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois and Republican Larry Bucshon from Indiana. The Bill intends to ensure that the United States is properly utilising the employment-based visas currently allocated each year under existing federal immigration law. The Eliminating Backlogs Act of 2023 legislation would give greater flexibility to use existing allotted work visas that employers desperately need. Indians employed in the US on temporary work permits such as H-1Bs face the longest delays in getting employment-based permanent residence visas or green cards because of the per country cap. If passed, the Eliminating Backlogs Act will benefit Indians employed in the US greatly. Congressman Krishnamoorthi said, “Even as our country`s high-skilled immigration system helps us draw top talent from around the world, current law caps the number of employment-based visas available based on workers` country of origin, leaving thousands of visas that would otherwise help our economy unused. I`m proud to partner with Congressman Bucshon on this legislation to end country-based discrimination in high-skilled immigration to ensure we use every allotted visa to draw skilled workers from across the globe to help strengthen our economy and create jobs while we also continue to invest in our domestic workforce.” Even though this new Bill would benefit Indians in a big way; it is likely that there will be several roadblocks in its path to being passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. Another recent Bill, Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment Act of 2022 or the EAGLE Act of 2022, faced a big setback after proceedings on it were postponed in the US House in December 2022.