Millions of green cards for illegal immigrants and protection from deportation: the House of Representatives approved an immigration bill

The House of Representatives adopted on Friday, November 19, a bill on large expenditures, in which more than $ 100 billion was allocated for immigration reform. Boundless.

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The Build Back Better Act includes provisions that protect nearly 7,1 million illegal immigrants from deportation and return over 2 million unused green cards.

“Passage of the bill is an incredible step toward the first meaningful immigration reform in a generation,” said Boundless CEO Xiao Wang. “This bill will change the lives of millions of people, from highly skilled visa holders and family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, to undocumented immigrants who have lived and contributed to our country for many years.”

Democrats were forced to relax immigration regulations after a Senate MP repeatedly rejected their proposals, claiming they did not comply with Senate rules.

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The bill won't reach the Senate until December. If the Senate passes this bill, it will still have to be signed by US President Joe Biden, and only after that it will become law.

What immigration changes are in the document

Work permits for millions: Democrats are offering a temporary parole option—essentially protection from deportation and permission to work—to nearly 7 million undocumented immigrants who have lived in the country since at least Jan. 1, 2011.

Of these 7 million people, approximately 1,5 million will be eligible for a green card through a family member. This is a significant fraction of the approximately 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States today. Those who are eligible will be protected from deportation and will be able to obtain a work permit.

Re-issuance of green cards: If the bill is passed as it is now written, the law could return more than two million green cards previously approved by Congress that have not been used since 1992.

Under the current bill, some employment-based green card applicants who have been on the waiting list for at least two years would be able to pay an additional $5000 fee to waive annual and country-by-country limits and become permanent residents for years - or even decades. Family members who have waited at least two years can apply for a waiver with a $2500 fee.

The bill, among other things, is aimed at protecting green cards for the winners of the Diversity Visa lottery, who were banned from entering the United States during various innovations by the previous administration.

Tax credit for children: Under the Donald Trump administration, approximately one million children whose parents are illegally in the United States were banned from receiving financial assistance in connection with COVID-19. The new bill proposes to change this rule.

It remains unclear whether these provisions will make it into the final Senate bill, but immigration lawyers mark the inclusion of any immigration reform as a victory.

“The Senate must now do everything necessary to ensure that this document becomes law as soon as possible,” Wang said. “The lives of millions of families hang in the balance.”

Disinformation

There is a lot of misinformation about the Build Back Better bill, including the issue of re-issuing green cards. Edition The Hill explained all the nuances.

All foreign workers who will qualify for these green cards are usually already employed in the United States in H-1B status, a category with tight numerical limits for new petitions that were last updated in 2004. In most cases, they have lived and worked here for over ten years. Moreover, they are already in the process of obtaining a green card with approved petitions for permanent residence.

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Many of them worked in the United States for years before starting the process of obtaining a green card. According to a Kato Institute study, “Indian employer-sponsored job seekers wait eight decades to receive green cards and nearly 200 people will die before they can even theoretically reach their turn. While they wait their turn, their children lose their status when they turn 000. What should they do when the US is in many cases the only country they knew?

There are also rumors that Build Back Better is somehow increasing the green card limits, but this is not the case. Green card limits were fixed in law back in 1990 and have not changed since then for either employment-based green cards (140 per year) or family-based green cards (000 per year).

So what is green card reissuance then? Due to the bureaucracy and policies of the various departments that award immigration benefits, as well as embassy closures and constant delays due to COVID-19, hundreds of thousands of authorized green card slots have gone unused from 1992 to the present. Reusing Green Cards is nothing more than an administrative solution to help the individuals mentioned above, restore the immigrant population in the US and generate billions of dollars of economic activity. Bringing back the green card has also happened in the past and currently has bipartisan support, so it is not a radical new strategy.

Finally, the return of the green card isn't just about big tech employers. It also affects doctors and healthcare professionals at the forefront of the COVID-19 response, as well as researchers, entrepreneurs and others who have driven economies and innovations for over a decade.

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