The text of my letters to Senators Warren and Markey on legislation that would remove the per-country limits on employment-based immigrant visas.
In establishing preferences, a nation that was built by the immigrants of all lands can ask those who now seek admission: “What can you do for your country?” But we should not be asking: “In what country were you born?”
President Lyndon B. Johnson
Remarks at the Signing of the Immigration Bill
Liberty Island, New York, 10/03/1965
Dear Senator,
I am writing to you as an immigration attorney, and an immigrant, to express my support for The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2020. This legislation represents an important opportunity to right a wrong that has emerged over a period of two decades. By removing per-country limits on the issuance of employment-based immigrant visas, the Act will place all foreign workers on an equal footing. Those born in India will no longer be required to wait years, in some cases decades, longer than their peers to become permanent residents.
The proposed legislation has provoked controversy and drawn criticism. The Act will have severe consequences for individuals born outside India, who will see their waiting times for employment-based green cards increase significantly. This will likely result in fewer individuals coming to the U.S. as non-immigrants, including artists, entertainers, athletes, and other individuals of extraordinary ability: their paths to permanent residency will become longer and more complicated.
These consequences are serious, and I am extremely concerned by them. I do not believe the legislation at hand should be viewed as their cause, however. The waiting times facing all foreign workers after this legislation is passed will be caused by the annual limit of 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas. The solution to that problem is to increase the annual quota, not to prop up the current system by continuing to deny green cards to the largest group of applicants.
Some critics have argued that the measures will result in Indian nationals dominating employment-based green card applications for the coming years. This is likely true. For the first few years, however, this will be a reflection of the fact that they have been waiting the longest. Once that correction has been made, if Indian nationals continue to be the largest group receiving employment-based green cards, it is because U.S. employers consider them equipped to address their needs. The proposed legislation does not give foreign nationals born in India any advantages over nationals of other countries; it places them on a level playing field.
President Johnson’s opening remarks at the signing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 are ironic, since the per-country limits in place today can be traced back to that legislation. It should also be acknowledged that neither he nor President Kennedy, who had worked on that legislation, wanted a single country to dominate green card applications. It is for this reason that per-country limits were introduced. But countries do not file green card applications. People do. If treating countries equally means that individuals are treated with great inequality, the system should be changed.
Sincerely,
Peter M. Rees
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