Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 Passes House of Representatives

Washington, D.C. U.S. House of Representatives (House) has passed the H.R. 1044 – Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 today. The bill will now goes to U.S. Senate (Senate). Passed/agreed to in House on motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 365 – 65 (Roll no. 437). The bill was introduced in House on February 7, 2019. This bill increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15%, and eliminates the 7% cap (per-country) for employment-based immigrant visas. It also removes an offset that reduced the number of visas for individuals from China.

The bill also establishes transition rules for employment-based visas from FY 2020- FY2022, by reserving a percentage (15%, 10% and 10%) of EB-2 (workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability), EB-3 (skilled and other workers), and EB-5 (investors) visas for individuals not from the two countries with the largest number of recipients of such visas. Of the unreserved visas, not more than 85% shall be allotted to immigrants from any single country. These provisions will expedite the employment-based immigrant visa processing or adjustment of status for the national of China, India and other countries with backlogs on EB-5.