It will become impractical for people from the rest of the globe to apply for an employment-based green card in any other manner since the wait time would be years, and the job would disappear, if Per-Country caps is removed by congress.
Therefore, to accept that job offer in the United States, employees must first have their company sponsor them as H-1B workers, enabling them to enter the country immediately.
Why is it harmful to remove country-specific caps
Removing country-specific limitations on employment-based green cards would directly contradict a long-standing legal provision intended to maintain immigration justice. Green cards won’t be capped; they will be distributed according to demand.
Furthermore, this modification would provide Indian and Chinese nationals in the country via the H-1B programme with the vast majority (more than 90%) of employment-based green cards because they make up the majority of aliens in the line for employment-based green cards. Foreign applicants would be moved down the queue and have to wait years to be considered for a green card.
Additionally, removing the employment per country limitations will negatively impact American workers. It will be even more difficult for American workers seeking employment in the IT sector, which is becoming oversaturated with H-1B workers, to obtain fair compensation and positions. Removing the per-country limitations will further deprive Americans of their rights and exacerbate big tech’s addiction to low-cost foreign labour.
China and India’s tech sector and citizens will be the true winners from removing the employment per-country caps. Without a national cap, citizens of China and India will control the majority of employment-based green cards.
Eliminating per-country restrictions will ultimately force ALL applicants seeking green cards based on work to apply through the H-1B programme. Also the US Department of State announced a new pilot programme for renewing H-1B Visas domestically.
Being an H-1B worker becomes much more enticing for Indian and Chinese workers since the waiting period to convert to a green card would have decreased significantly.
About The Per-Country Caps
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) presented the Immigration Visa Efficiency and Security Act (IVES Act) in December 2023. To make the immigration system more “equitable,” the measure would raise the per-country cap on family-based visas and do away with the employment-based visa caps. With its predecessors, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act and Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment Act (EAGLE Act), the IVES Act marks the third effort in as many Congresses to get support for these detrimental policies.
The IVES Act’s proponents contend that by granting green cards to foreign nationals who provide value to the United States, eliminating the per-country restriction on employment-based immigration will boost the country’s economy. Additionally, they contend that foreign employees in the United States must wait years for their green card, during which they cannot progress in their professions, switch jobs, launch a new company, or travel home to see loved ones.
On the other hand, per-country limitations are crucial to our immigration system. They were incorporated into the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in 1965 to establish a fundamental principle of justice, which states that no nation or group of nations should be able to control or influence our immigration laws.