BAD NEWS FOLKS !!!!!
EB2 will take 4 Years
EB3 will take 12 Years (damn !)



WASHINGTON: In a move that would benefit highly-skilled workers from countries like India seeking to stay in the US, the House of Representatives has voted to end per-country caps on worker-based immigration visas.

The bill (HR 3012) passed by the US House of Representative in a voice vote, from both the parties, completely eliminates the per-country caps for employment-based visas and raises the per-country cap from seven per cent to 15 per cent for family-based visas, all without adding even a single additional visa.

The current Immigration and Nationality Act generally provides that the total number of employment-based immigrant visas made available to natives of any single foreign country in a year cannot exceed seven per cent of the total number of such visas made available in that year, a result of which a large number of qualifies Indians in particular are rejected because of this anomaly in the existing law.

Supporters of this bill termed it as pro-growth and pro-job. Speaking on the floor of the House in support of the bill, Congressman Steve Cohen said the bill removes the so-called "per-country" limits from applying to employment-based green cards.

"Current immigration law provides 140,000 green cards annually to employment-based immigrants. The law, however, prevents any one country from receiving more than 7 per cent or 9,800 of the total 140,000 visas," he said.

"Because of this per-country limit, a country like India, with a population of 1.2 billion, is limited to the same number of visas as a country like Iceland, with a population of 300,000 and a lot of ice," he argued.

"This makes no sense and has resulted in decades-long backlogs for nationals from India, as well as China, and it makes it impossible for certain US employers to attract and retain certain essential workers they need to help keep America competitive. Indeed, from India and China there are many people trained in STEM areas that we need in our country to keep competitive," Cohen said.

He said that eliminating the per-country limit for employment-based immigrants would level the playing field and treat everyone on a first-come, first-served basis.

"Because the bill does not provide additional green cards, it does not address the current overall backlogs. And that's unfortunate. But the bill does treat people and those backlogs more equitably. To make sure that there are no unintended consequences, the elimination of the per-country limit is phased in slowly over 3 years," he said.

Congressman Jim Moran said that this bill is very important for the tech sector to grow and expand.

"We know how important technology firms are going to be in the global economy of the 21st century; but I don't think we fully take into account how important it is to continue to attract the best and brightest from around the world who, in fact, do want to go to graduate school here and do want to continue residing in the United States and to work here applying their talents and skills," Moran said.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said, "This bill will help certain Indian nationals, who now face a wait of 70 years to get green cards.

"... But because the bill does not address the scope of the backlogs, it will increase the wait time for many others. Under this bill, everyone seeking an employment-based third preference green card will have to wait 12 years. That may be more equitable, but it doesn't fix the underlying problem," he said.

Well the only hope now is Congress have at least started working on addressing immigration stuffs. Next step would be either preference for STEM degree, eleminate DV or something like that. But that will victimize yet another groups of immigrants.

So, how long does it usually take for senate to pass and when does the bill becomes law ? 

What happens to people who are waiting for their Current date ? Does this bill affect them as well ?

So EB3-ROW people who were expecting Green Card soon have to wait another 5-10 Years ? This SUCKS BIG TIME !!!!

This bill is not doing any better for Nepalese, rather we'll have to share pain with Dhotis and Chinese, that's it.

The bill is to take effect slowly in next three years as per my understanding. But what I would like to know is its likelyhood of passage in the senate. Also, I would like to know the source of the above artilce as my googles are not bringing up anything beyond it being put up on union calendar on the 18th.

Upon more research, the bill seemed to have passed with broad support from both the parties. Seems very likely to pass the senate too....

It was passed unanimously with 389 votes against 15. Senate bata pass bhayo bhane next yr law huncha.

If passed in senate, it will be implemented fully after 3 years? Does anyone know how they are planning to implement this law?

Next year means? What happed to the people who already started their EB2 and EB3?

Please excuse my ignorance, but the way I am interpreting this bill, it is planned not to have sudden effect. So, I think we should be ok for another couple of years at least. This thing is really frustrating!

So does it mean that if we were better candidates than Chinese/Indians in STEM, more number of Nepalese (15% compared to 7%) can get green cards every year?

Rest of the world (ROW) is doomed with this Bill....Only India & China take over US.

If you have already file under EB3 or EB2, be prepared to wait another 4-10 years !

No Green Card within a Year (EB2) for us now...That really sucks...

10 years for a GREEN CARD ? I am moving out of this country now !

Row gets 15 % for 2011 and 10% for 2012 and 2013, that essentially means eb3 is doomed unless they are pd of early 2006

I think, it doesn't effect for a year or two. They will need some time to make a law and then within 3 yrs they will implement.

If it becomes law,It takes effect as if it was made a law before oct 2011,EB Row gets 15 % for 2011 and 10% for 2012 and 2013 as transition period, which means nothing.

- Why dont you guys share the original source/link along with your posting. Its so ridiculous to read it here because it might not be legit.
- I can see sajha users (on other posts as well) who simply throw the content i.e copy and paste.
- Respect the originator of the news. Thats what i call "plagiarism".
- Let us not jump into the conclusion w/o proper/authenticated news source.
~Thanks

Anon,
can you please elaborate? You are saying for EB2 ROW, this new law won't be much problem in terms of priority date till 2013?

http://www.firstpost.com/world/us-house-votes-to-end-country-caps-for-work-visas-2-145112.html

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=743047

Indians celebrating the news !
http://www.trackitt.com/usa-discussion-forums/i485-eb/861906165/h-r-3012-passed-the-house-next-hurdle-is-the-senate-floor

When this bill becomes law. It will be effective September 30, 2011

So it will have impact immideately.

ROW EB2----> The priority date gets pushed back to 2008 !
EB2 For india will probably become Current.

Here's the ESTIMATION of what happens after this Bill becomes Law !


http://us-non-immigrants.blogspot.com/2011/10/hr-3012-estimation-of-eb-category-cut.html