The Lee-Durbin "Big Tech" Green Card Bill S.386

More foreign workers in de facto residency replacing U.S. workers

Share Tweet Forward The Lee-Durbin Big Tech Green Card Bill S.386 More foreign workers in de facto residency replacing U.S. workers, but less diversity   Washington, D.C. (December 20, 2019) - Senator Mike  Lee (R-UT) has agreed to new provisions that will further distort the US labor market and displace American college graduates from jobs in order to secure Sen. Dick Durbin's (D-IL) support for the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act (S. 386). The resulting bill goes well beyond dealing with the lop-sided waiting list caused by an influx of visa workers from India. It also creates a new form of long-term residency called "early filing," allowing those arriving on certain temporary visas to bypass the annual green card limits and stay indefinitely if they have an employer sponsor.   Under the bill, those on a long-term temporary visa who can secure a job offer requiring a college degree will, after a wait of 270 days, be able to obtain a three-year renewable work permit and permission to travel in and out of the country. It will be a status comparable to permanent residency with a green card, but without having to wait in line or be restricted by annual immigration limits. It will potentially apply to hundreds of thousands of people each year, including foreign students, exchange visitors, NAFTA workers, investors, and more.    Supporters of fast-tracking the visa workers who are now on the waiting list say that eliminating the per country cap is "number neutral" and will not increase the number of green cards awarded nor increase the cap on guestworkers. This is true, but because it gives visa workers a no-strings work permit that is not linked to a Department of Labor-approved work arrangement and specific employer, these workers will no longer be considered part of the numerically limited H-1B program, and those visa numbers will be available to employers to bring in new visa workers from abroad. In addition, the "early filing" work permits will undoubtedly attract significantly more applicants from abroad to come in on other temporary statuses that formerly offered no easy path to a green card. So while there might not be more green cards issued, there definitely will be more foreign workers in de facto residency.   Read the complete analysis of the new provisions: https://cis.org/Vaughan/Senate-S386-HR1044-Country-Cap#update Archived articles on S386: https://cis.org/Archive-Senate-Action-Big-Tech-Green-Card-Bill-S386   Fact Sheet on House companion bill HR1044: https://cis.org/Vaughan/Fact-Sheet-HR-1044-Fairness-High-Skilled-Immigrants-Act   Some of the flaws of the Durbin-Lee bill: does not include reforms to ensure that visa workers are highly skilled or highly paid; everyone with a qualifying job offer gets to stay with a renewable work permit; does not explicitly prevent employers from replacing US workers with visa workers; does not tighten the skills or occupational or educational standards for visas; does not increase the total number of green cards; increases the number of "temporary" visa workers who expect to stay; and encourages more employers to lower their labor costs by hiring foreign workers who gain access to the labor market by obtaining a temporary visa.    This bill would dramatically change our employment green card distribution system by eliminating a safeguard that prevents green card numbers from being monopolized by citizens of one or two countries.  Known as the "per country cap," this provision ensures that the employment-based visas are available to a truly global pool of talent in a wide variety of occupational sectors.  It should not be scrapped; eliminating it would benefit one industry (Big Tech) and two groups of applicants (Indian tech workers and Chinese investors) and squeeze out all others.     Jessica Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, writes, "This bill is anything but fair to U.S. workers, because it strengthens and perpetuates a system that is actively displacing them. It offers a major concession to employers who have bypassed U.S. workers for decades, without reforming the system to reduce guestworker admissions or prevent employers from replacing U.S. workers."   Visit Website Copyright © 2019 Center for Immigration Studies, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Center for Immigration Studies 1629 K St., NW, Suite 600 Washington, DC 20006 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. View this e-mail in your browser.

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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Daily Digest Bulletin

USCIS Expands Guidance Related to Naturalization Requirement of Good Moral Character 12/13/2019 WASHINGTON— Today, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services expanded its policy guidance regarding unlawful acts that may prevent an applicant from meeting the good moral character (GMC) requirement for naturalization. The commission of, or conviction or imprisonment for, an unlawful act, during the statutory period for naturalization, may render an applicant ineligible for naturalization should the act be found to adversely reflect on moral character.   Previously, the USCIS Policy Manual did not include extensive information on unlawful acts. This update to the Policy Manual provides additional examples of unlawful acts and instructions to ensure USCIS adjudicators make uniform and fair determinations, and further identifies unlawful acts that may affect GMC based on judicial precedent. This update does not change the impact of an unlawful act on USCIS’ analysis of whether an applicant can demonstrate GMC. Adjudicators in the field receive extensive training to apply the law on GMC and unlawful acts regulation. They are aware of which unlawful acts could bar an applicant from naturalization and are not limited by the examples listed in the Policy Manual. On Dec. 10, USCIS issued separate policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual about how two or more convictions for driving under the influence or post-sentencing changes to criminal sentencing might affect GMC determinations. “In the Immigration and Nationality Act, Congress determined that good moral character is a requirement for naturalization,” said USCIS Deputy Director Mark Koumans. “USCIS is committed to faithfully administering our nation’s lawful immigration system, and this update helps to ensure that our agency’s adjudicators make uniform and fair decisions concerning the consideration of unlawful acts on good moral character when determining eligibility for U.S. citizenship.” Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), an applicant for naturalization must establish GMC. Although the INA does not directly define GMC, it does describe certain acts that bar establishing GMC of an applicant. Examples of unlawful acts recognized by case law as barring GMC include, but are not limited to, the following: bail jumping; bank fraud; conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance; failure to file or pay taxes; false claim to U.S. citizenship; falsification of records; forgery uttering; insurance fraud; obstruction of justice; sexual assault; Social Security fraud; unlawful harassment; unlawful registration to vote; unlawful voting; and violation of a U.S. embargo. In general, applicants must show they have been, and continue to be, people of GMC during the statutory period before filing for naturalization and up until they take the Oath of Allegiance. The statutory period is generally five years for permanent residents of the United States, three years for applicants married to a U.S. citizen, and one year for certain applicants applying on the basis of qualifying U.S. military service. USCIS officers must continue to perform a case-by-case analysis to determine whether an act is unlawful and adversely reflects on an applicant's good moral character. They must also determine whether there are extenuating circumstances. An extenuating circumstance must pertain to the unlawful act and must precede or be contemporaneous with the commission of the unlawful act. Training for adjudicators will be updated to reflect this expanded guidance. For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), Instagram (/uscis), YouTube (/uscis), Facebook (/uscis), and LinkedIn (/uscis). Please do not reply to this message.  See our Contact Us page for phone numbers and e-mail addresses. STAY CONNECTED: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: Manage Preferences  |   Unsubscribe   |  Help Update your subscriptions, modify your password or email address, or stop subscriptions at any time on your Subscriber Preferences Page. You will need to use your email address to log in. If you have questions or problems with the subscription service, please contact Subscriber Help. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sending to desipulau.freeimmigration@blogger.com  20 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC 20529  1-800-375-5283

New Estimate: 72,000 Births Annually to Tourists, Foreign Students and Other Visitors

Share Tweet Forward New Estimate: 72,000 Births Annually to Tourists, Foreign Students and Other Visitors Washington, D.C. (December 12, 2019) – Two new analyses by the Center for Immigration Studies estimate that there are 39,000 births a year to foreign students, guest workers and others on long-term temporary visa, plus an additional 33,000 births annually to tourists – 72,000 in total. Those born to these "non-immigrants," as the government refers to them, are awarded U.S. citizenship because they were born in the United States and not because a parent was a U.S. citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holders). These births are in addition to the nearly 300,000 births each year to illegal immigrants.   Our analysis does not address the controversial question of whether the U.S. Constitution actually requires "birthright citizenship," as it is often called, to anyone born in the United States regardless of the parents' immigration status. Rather, our estimates inform that discussion by estimating the scale of births to non-immigrants, which is one part of the birthright citizenship controversy that is seldom considered.   "Our analysis makes clear that the number of children born to visitors is not trivial; and over time the numbers are substantial," said Steven Camarota, the report's lead author and the Center's Director of Research. "It seems doubtful that the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment could have anticipated that tens of thousands of people each year would automatically be granted citizenship simply because their parents were on a temporary visit to the United States at the time of their birth."   Analysis: Birth Tourism Analysis: Births to Long-term Temporary Visa Holders   Births to Long-Term Temporary Visitors:   The government estimates that in 2016 there were 800,000 women age 18 to 44 in the country on long-term non-immigrant visas, primarily foreign students, guest workers, and exchange visitors.   Based on a comparable population of women in Census Bureau data, we estimate there are 49 births per thousand to these women for a total of 39,000 births annually or 390,000 each decade.   The birth rate for non-immigrants aged 18-44 is relatively low compared to the 77 births per-thousand for immigrant women generally. However the total number of births to temporary visitors is still large because so many foreign students, guest workers and exchange visitors have been allowed into the country.   We estimate that at least 90 percent of the fathers of children born to non-immigrant women were not U.S. citizens, almost all them on temporary visa themselves or illegal immigrants. This means at least 35,000 children were born to a non-immigrant mother and were awarded U.S. citizenship at birth solely because they were born on U.S. soil and not because their parents were citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents (green card holders).   Birth Tourism   Many news stories in recent years have focused on "birth tourism," which describes the phenomenon of pregnant women coming to America shortly before their due dates so their children are born in the United States and are awarded U.S. citizenship.   Based on a comparison of birth records and Census Bureau data, we estimate there were 33,000 births to women on tourist visas in the second half of 2016 and the first half of 2017. This translates to perhaps 330,000 such births each decade.   While there is significant uncertainty around this number, our new estimate is very similar to our prior estimate for second half of 2011 and first half of 2012.   It should be emphasized that the small number of mothers who provide a foreign address on birth documents are probably not birth tourists, as those engaged in birth tourism likely list a U.S. address so they can receive birth certificates and passports before returning to their home countries. These addresses are typically a relative's or a residence arranged by those "selling" birth tourism services. Visit Website Further Reading:  Births to Legal and Illegal Immigrants in the US Mark Krikorian Discusses Birth Tourism Birthright Citizenship: An Overview DHS Files Many Indictments in an Attack on Birth Tourism   Copyright © 2019 Center for Immigration Studies, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Center for Immigration Studies 1629 K St., NW, Suite 600 Washington, DC 20006 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. View this e-mail in your browser. This is the Center for Immigration Studies CISNews e-mail list.