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Immigration Bill Still under Debate

By Humera Subhani

June 2013

The Senate Judiciary Committee is in the midst of debating that chamber's bipartisan bill, with the goal of bringing a bill before the full Senate next month. The panel is struggling with the work visa program in the bill and is under intense pressure from technology companies to make it easier to hire foreign workers.

House of Representatives Reach Agreement
Reuters reports that prospects for passage of a major immigration bill improved on May 16, 2013, when a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives declared they had reached a tentative deal, resolving disputes that had threatened to torpedo negotiations. The breakthrough came at the end of a two-hour private meeting of seven Republican and Democratic negotiators. The final sticking point, according to congressional sources, was over whether illegal immigrants now in the United States who gain legal status under the bill could participate in the new healthcare law known as "Obamacare," which Republicans want to repeal.

Even with this breakthrough, the drive to enact a comprehensive immigration bill, which is President Barack Obama's top legislative priority, faces a long, difficult road in Congress. The agreement still must be drafted into legislation for review by the 435 members of the House. Then it faces a potentially tough battle in the House Judiciary Committee, where several conservative Republicans have been dead-set against a comprehensive bill. Instead, they mostly want to pass tougher border security measures and allow U.S. companies to get better access to foreign high-tech workers.

Any proposal to provide a path to citizenship for 11 million people now in the United States illegally, which is part of a Senate bill, is certain to draw fierce opposition from some Republican quarters. Furthermore, the House bill will not fully conform to the measure winding its way through the Democratic-controlled Senate.

New Procedures for Arriving F-1 Students
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered a higher level of scrutiny of F-1 students at the U.S. ports of entry (POEs), according to the Associated Press. The revised procedures are a reaction to the Boston marathon bombings. The matter highlights a key weakness in the system used to track individuals entering the United States as students and exchange visitors.

New procedures are being implemented to allow all Customs and Border Patrol agents at POEs to have access to SEVIS (the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System). The CBP will use information from flight manifests to verify information on F-1 students before they arrive in the United States. If the SEVIS information is unavailable, other steps will be taken to obtain verification. Students should anticipate delays at POEs as a result of these heightened security measures.

VISA PREFERENCE NUMBERS FOR JUNE 2013

FAMILY	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	22Apr06	22Apr06
2A	08Jun11	08Jun11
2B	08Jul05	08Jul05
3rd	01Sep02	01Sep02
4th	01May01	01May01

EMPLOYMENT	India	Pakistan/Bangladesh
1st	Current	Current
2nd	01Sep04	Current
3rd	08Jan03	01Sep08
Other	08Jan03	01Sep08
4th	Current	Current
5th	Current	Current1B