Washington, D.C. – July 10, 2019: Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 (H.R. 1044) by a vote of 365 to 65. If enacted, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act would eliminate the per-country limit for all employment-based immigrants and increase the per-country limit for all family-sponsored immigrants from 7 percent to 15 percent.

Commentators agree that the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act would skew allocation of work-based green cards to Indian and Chinese applicants who are already in the visa pipeline, and who face daunting waiting lists of 10 years or more for certain visa categories. Unfortunately, this fix for Indian and Chinese applicants could come at the expense of applicants from Europe or Latin America, who could suddenly become subject to waiting lists for work-based green cards (such as EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 visas).

The U.S. legislative process requires laws to be passed by the House of Representatives (lower house of congress), the Senate (upper house of congress) and finally signed by the President.

The U.S. Senate has not indicated whether it would take up the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act or a similar bill. The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act therefore faces an uncertain legislative future.

I.A. Donoso & Associates, LLC is a law firm based in Washington, D.C. and is recognized as a leading immigration law firm with expertise in visas for EB-5 investors, professionals, and academics.