On Wednesday, December 3, 2020, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed bill S.386/H.R.1044, which proposes to eliminate the current per-country caps on employment-based visas. Although this bill shares the same name as its predecessor which was passed by the House in 2019, this version of the “Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act” deviates in significant ways. These deviations will likely require negotiation between the House and the Senate to resolve the differences before this bill can advance any further.
The takeaway here is that while the passing of the bill is something worth keeping an eye on, there are still significant hurdles that this bill must overcome for it to become law. Specifically, the House must also pass the bill and then the President must approve and sign off on it. Moreover, if this bill not passed by the end of this Congressional session, which is expected to end on December 18, 2020, it must be reintroduced in the new Congress.
While hypothetical timelines cannot be predicted with any certainty at this point, it is unlikely that there will be modifications to the existing 7% per-country caps in the immediate future. We will continue to actively monitor for any new developments on this front.
Details on the status of bill S.386/H.R.1044 can be found at Congress’s website here.
