The S.386 Act Has Passed — What Does It Mean for Immigrants?

Not long ago, the U.S. Senate did something that many Indians were looking forward to – they voted in the favor of the S.386. Out of all the senators, 365 voted in favor of the act, while 65 voted against it. But why is this such a big deal for Indians and what does it mean? Find out everything about it in this article.

What Is the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act?

The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act was created to get rid of the per-country limit for employment-based immigrants. It’s a way to make sure more immigrants have the chance to go to the U.S. and seek employment based on their country. Not only that, but it is also able to raise the limit per country to 15%, while before it used to be 7%. This percentage increase applies to family-based immigrants who want to get a green card.

Basically, the current immigration policy forces an applicant to wait in a backlog when they apply for a green card based on where they are from and how many applicants there are. However, the country of the applicant is taken into consideration the most when calculating the wait time of the person. Sometimes, these times have gone as far as more than 20 years for some people.

With the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrant Act, people applying for benefits such as employment visas or green cards will have a higher chance to be accepted.

How Did the Act Pass?

The Act passed in the U.S. Senate through the vote of the majority. Basically, only a while ago, the HR 1044, Fairness of High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019, was put through a Senate vote. During the voting, 365 voted in favor of the Act, whereas only 65 went against it.

Although the act passed, this is barely the first step in the Fairness Act’s journey of getting its final approval. If approved, it will be able to get rid of the country gap that people are currently facing when they apply for a Green Card. The next step in this process is the approval of the President. So far, there is no date set up for this, which is why it’s not clear when we will have an answer on whether the Act will be fully approved or not.

We all know that at the moment, things are a little pushed back when it comes to immigration. Therefore, nobody expected to see any improvements. So, the pass of this act comes as a very nice surprise for people. This Act is now the reason for the happiness of a lot of individuals who have been stuck in backlogs for a long time waiting to become permanent residents of the United States.

The Act was introduced in the U.S. Congress not long ago and it’s now waiting for a decision. In the meantime, people are waiting to see whether they will indeed get to obtain permanent residency sooner or not.

What Benefits Does S.886 Offer?

So, what exactly does this S.386 offer? There must surely be some great benefits to it since so many people are waiting to see if the Act will be fully approved. Here are the advantages it brings:

• This act is planning to increase the per-country limit when it comes to family-based immigrants. The limit is currently set at 7%, but the Act wants to bring it to 15%, which gives more people the opportunity to go to the United States if they were previously waiting for their chance. This will give an additional 33,900 family-based visas, whereas before it used to be 25,620.
• If you have an employment-based immigrant visa already, then you will not get a visa much later than you would have if the bill had never been enacted.
• The Act will make sure it addresses the current backlog that many people are facing when trying to become permanent residents of the United States. It will reduce the wait times for many legal immigrants, whether we’re talking about family-based visas or employment-based visas.
• Per the transition clause of the Act, the various percentages of immigrant visas will be reserved for different categories. These include EB-2, EB-3, and EB-5 categories. It excludes beneficiaries from China and/or India. As for the provision, it’s going to be 15% in FY 2020, and 10% in FY 2021 and FY 2022.
• The primary beneficiaries are the Philippines and Mexico, respectively married sons and daughters and/or siblings of U.S. citizens. They should be in the 1995-1998 priority date category.
• Although this transition clause does not apply to family-based visas, it will help reunite a lot of U.S. citizens who are waiting to see their close relatives again.

Pros and Cons of the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act

The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act comes with multiple benefits, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any disadvantages that people should pay attention to. Here are some of the pros and cons that the Act will bring if it is approved.

Pros

• It will solve the current bad backlog that many immigrants are dealing with, and will make it easier to obtain permanent residency
• There will be more H1B visa workers and employment-based green cards
• Many families who were separated a while back because of the long wait times can now be reunited again
• Multiple skilled people will be brought to the United States and the country will thus become way more competitive in the global market

 Cons

• The gap per each country is the only way the United States can prevent too many immigrants from a certain country from coming to the States. So, a per country gap could be imperative.
• If the per country limit is eliminated, then a lot of immigrants would come to the United States, which will again make the processing limits and the system too crowded and cause it to backlog again
• Having the per country gap eliminated could end up inclining the distribution of the covered visa in favor of the most dominating countries, respectively China and India.

What Happens Next?

Senators Mike Lee and Kamala Harris were the lead sponsors of this Bill. But the Senate passing the bill is not the end of the process – there are still things to be one.

There are differences between the Senate version and the House one. This is why the differences should be reconciled first, after which the reconciled version will pass both houses again. Then, the President of the United States has to sign the bill.

Now, we only have to wait and see when all of this is going to happen since a date was not set so far.

Conclusion

The S.386 Act being passed could mean a lot to all people who were victims of the backlog and would love to be reconnected with their families again. The per-country limit affected many immigrants and with this Bill, the chance for them to come to the U.S. would be higher. However, there are some drawbacks that cannot be overlooked, so it’s difficult to say what will come of this Act in the end.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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