As most people know by now, immigration reform is on the horizon and the Senate has just completed its ruling on the many different parts combined into one bill, all regarding various issues in Immigration Reform. The Senate has ruled favorably to the biggest immigration reform we have seen the year of 2001. Specifically, if passed, this Bill would allow the more than 11 million undocumented people in the U.S. to become U.S. Citizens within a 13-year plan for them to become documented.
The Bill has also proposed an increase in the number of H-1B work visas. An H-1B visa is a work visa that is available to individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree in a specialized field and have a bona fide job offer from a U.S. company for a specialized position, such as a position in IT, engineering, accounting, science, etc. The increase in H-1B visa numbers is extremely needed, as in this year alone, there were more than 120,000 applicants and only 65,000 H-1B visas available.
We look forward to the passing of this Bill to become Law, especially since TRAC states that more than 1,500 people are arrested Daily for immigration violations. A large number of those arrested are in the state of Texas, which again shows us that we need an immigration law that will provide help to the undocumented foreign nationals in our country.
While we have all been waiting for this “new law” for years now, it seems that this Bill is not yet Law. The next step is that the Bill would be fully debated on the Senate floor during the first week of June 2013.