Hold On Bill To End Per-Country Cap Lifted

In July 2012, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, agreed to lift his hold on the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R. 3012) that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. As we reported in the December 2011 issue of the Immigration eAuthority, under current law, the total number of employment-based immigrant visas made available to natives of any foreign country in a given year cannot exceed 7% of the total number of such visas made available in that year. H.R. 3012 eliminates this per-country percentage cap by FY 2015 and also increases family-based visa limits from 7% per country to 15% per country. If enacted into law, the green card wait times for employment-based immigrants from high-volume user countries, such as China and India, would be reduced. On the other hand, slower processing for natives of all countries seems likely.