Discussion of Bills that remove the Per Country Limits - H.R.3012, H,R. 213

[Mavrick]

Slightly off topic by here you go

Sen. Chuck Grassley Launches Attack Against 29-Month OPT Program Requesting the U.S. Controller General to Investigage Abuse of the Program - http://www.immigration-law.com/

He is not going to stop...I'm starting to wonder whether he does any contribution to US other than being a road block for immigration.

[vizcard]

I totally agree with sportsfan's post. Personally, the whole immigration process needs to be ripped apart and rebuilt. Revamp EB, get rid of the damn lottery (or atleast put tighter controls on who can apply). I think the FB process while painful is probably the most fair.

[PD2008AUG25]

Not everything that Grassley or other senators do is wrong. It is perfectly right from the perspective of the Americans. Note that it is election year and the labor report has been disappointing. With Facebook sinking, the silicon valley shine has taken a hit. Expect more and more tightening of screws going forward. Q's view about HR3012 not passing any time soon is consistent with this larger theme.

I was surprised at Democrats who were so willingly supporting Irish E-3 bill without single question even though it was racist and unfair. They make Grassley look like a hero. They would pass anything without someone to stop and ask questions.

[Jonty Rhodes]

This program is abused more often than not. In absence of a stricter everify, effectively, this program simply opens up doors for F1 students to be exploited as cheap labor for more than 2 years. There are a good number of reasons why a comprehensive everify is unlikely.

Ironically, this program started to cover up one massive fraud - H1B abuse. It would have been better during 2005-2008 to stop the H1B abuse, which would have helped the future GC queues as well.

Instead of keeping people on various degrees of nonimmigrant status for a long time, the system should only pick the winners and the most talented people and simply grant them GCs. That's a good immigration policy.

Not everything that Grassley or other senators do is wrong. It is perfectly right from the perspective of the Americans. Note that it is election year and the labor report has been disappointing. With Facebook sinking, the silicon valley shine has taken a hit. Expect more and more tightening of screws going forward. Q's view about HR3012 not passing any time soon is consistent with this larger theme.

Agree with your post. This immigration system is really messed up and I hope some sane voices prevail in future. I personally feel that Sen. Grassley is not really against the HR3012 itself but is more concerned about the H1B/L1 abuse. Some of his concerns are not misplaced either because fraud in these categories is not a new thing. Now add 29 month OPT program on that. I feel that his main motive is to add those stringent measures on this bill. Now, its a different thing that those changes will probably not be accepted by technology companies and the unfortunate part is whenever H1B/L1 abuse is talked about, the discussion will almost always gets directed at IT Companies and they get truly or untruly blamed for taking unfair advantage of the system. I understand that IT and technology companies end up using most number of H1B/L1 but there are other people like me who are also on H1B and are not in technology field (physician) who are bearing the brunt of this alleged fraud/abuse of H1B/L1 and tug of war between technology companies demanding less restrictions and politicians wanting more restrictions.

I am a firm believer in Q's theory that immigration should not be tied to an employer like what we have in EB categoeries right now. I also agree with you that the immigration policy should be efficient enough to be able to pick talented people from the labor pool based on objective criteria and give them GCs instead of making talented people wait endlessly with uncertainty putting their career advancements on hold.

[gcq]

H1B is the only path for skilled immigrants to enter this country. Choking H1B program will force out all skilled immigration, lead to more outsourcing and make the country less competitive.

If grassley was so concerned about fraud, why doesn't he readily agree to stop all corn subsidies ? He won't because corn farmers are his vote bank. He doesn't care about H1B because it is not a prime interest for his farm state. He himself took advantage of the corn subsidy despite being a millionaire. Grassley's intentions -- always a suspect. He works in close collaboration with anti-immigrant groups like NUSA. In fact he bases his actions on inputs from these groups. If you want a real glimpse of what this man is, watch the youtube video where he explains why he prefers senate over house. He is an attention seeking lawmaker who want everyone to be begging to please him.

Did anyone wonder why illegal immigrants have such a clout in this country despite being illegal ? Because their fellow countrymen who are citizens support them. Look at us, we are speaking the language of anti-immigrants. For that reason we will never be a strong political force in this country. Irish had the guts to ask visas specifically for their illegals. Us ? good at bashing our own countrymen's prospects !

If we are really righteous and care about our dignity, we all should be in our home country make it stronger, fighting against corruption and make it one of the leading countries of the world, not sitting in US and bragging about how great we are.

[kd2008]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/76996.html

Grassley only recently lifted a hold on a bill by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) that would eliminate the employment-based per-country visa cap. A spokesperson for Grassley said the senator “supports legal immigration opportunities and works for measures to prevent fraud in immigration programs.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories...#ixzz1wpeAQ1nM

No other source can be confirmed at this point. Please hold back all questions about impact of this and future date movements etc. It is still way to early. We need to independently confirm that the removal of hold is true.

[gs1968]

To kd2008
I had brought this up last week in the same thread after a similar news report in the Congressional Quarterly by Daniel Harrison. However that article stated that Sen.Grassley has managed to add his H-1B restrictions onto the Bill.It also mentioned that 2 other Republican senators were opposing the Bill and could block it but did not say clearly which Bill they were opposing. The POLITICO news story you mentioned does not mention anything about these H-1B trade-offs. Thus there are 2 sources now which mention the removal of hold but they could be feeding off each other. The more reputed immigration news sources like ILW, Shuesterman,AILA or Immigration-Law.com which have their ears close to the ground have not mentioned this at all. Also when Sen.Grassley released his hold on the FCC nominees he made a statement on the Floor of the Senate and his website also reported it under the NEWS section. If an agreement was reached the Bill would most likely pass under Unanimous consent today as generally the Bills are cleared before people have a change of mind/heart.
Let us hope that there is some closure on this issue soon as we are already past the 6 month mark since the House passed the Bill

[Pedro Gonzales]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/76996.html



No other source can be confirmed at this point. Please hold back all questions about impact of this and future date movements etc. It is still way to early. We need to independently confirm that the removal of hold is true.

I called his DC office. They weren't aware of the Politico article and confirmed that the good Senator's hold remains in place. So, unless there's something Michelle Quinn knows that Grassley's office doesn't yet (unlikey), she made a mistake.

[gs1968]

To Pedro Gonzales
Thank you for the update.I also read on another forum about a similar phone call to his office and the hold being firmly in place and that the article(s) were factually incorrect.
We have to wait and see.

[kd2008]

I called his DC office. They weren't aware of the Politico article and confirmed that the good Senator's hold remains in place. So, unless there's something Michelle Quinn knows that Grassley's office doesn't yet (unlikey), she made a mistake.

Pedro, Thanks for the legwork and the update.

Here is today's Senate Calendar: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CCAL-11...2012-06-04.pdf

On page 62, Sen. Grassley's hold on HR 3012 is still in place. So the politico story is factually incorrect.

[kd2008]

After having extensive conversations with my Senator's office, I will say that it does not matter what I think or you think. All that matters is what they think. And what they think is based mostly on political equations. Some times based on humane or patriotic grounds. If your issue does not fit into these then it is not a high priority issue and you are S-O-L.

And as far as Grassley goes, here is the deal: This guy was pro-H-1B, then the economy tanked, bodyshoppers setup shop, and a whole lot of folks got the shaft and he got burnt. I don't think he is stubborn or racist. He knows the HR 3012 is the only thing that is close to getting passed and if he does not push protections then none will ever get passed and implemented. And clearly H-1B and L-1 visas have been abused, though I suspect fraud is minimal. He wished to tighten up the language to minimize abuse and catch fraud. While is it well intentioned, it will blow up to smithereens recruitment model of many bodyshops and many large fortune companies. These are the ones who care and have enough money to get lobbyists working on what they want.

While I want my GC fast, I do not wish to be a pawn that these folks showcase and misuse to get what they want.

[Mavrick]

Unconfirmed Reports - Grassley Lifted hold on H.R.3012

Source - http://www.immigration-law.com/

[Mavrick]

Here is the news link

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/76996.html

Unconfirmed Reports - Grassley Lifted hold on H.R.3012

Source - http://www.immigration-law.com/

[kd2008]

Unconfirmed Reports - Grassley Lifted hold on H.R.3012

Source - http://www.immigration-law.com/

Please read the discussion of bills thread in advocacy section. This report has been confirmed to be untrue by forum member Pedro directly with Grassley's office.

[kd2008]

Here is the news link

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/76996.html

This has been discussed few pages back. This story is incorrect. Grassley still has the hold as confirmed by his office.

[tatikonda]

HR 3012 LIFT Hold by Grassley is True and Confirmed.. ( Ron' Says it )

http://www.immigration-information.c...ed=1#post73019

Great News ..

[tatikonda]

HR 3012 LIFT Hold by Grassley is True and Confirmed.. ( Ron' Says it )

http://www.immigration-information.c...ed=1#post73019

Great News ..

guys ..new is coming from Ron Gotcher's website .. I am surprised to see no one is responding !!

[tatikonda]

I am very surprised, and if this is true, it will be a great day indeed.

We still don't know for sure. Let's hold our horses until there is absolute confirmation.

Yes it is 100% true !! ( see 1st Thread on 3rd page )

http://www.immigration-information.c...ed=1#post73019

[Kanmani]

Soon after Kd posted the politico link, I thoroughly checked the congressional records for any clue with respect to the release of the hold , for my disappointment I couldn't find anything. Pedro called the Grassely's office and confirmed the news was not true. Somebody from the other forum also called and confirmed that the hold is intact. I don't know what is the true intention of the Grassley's office to confirm both ways.

[tatikonda]

Soon after Kd posted the politico link, I thoroughly checked the congressional records for any clue with respect to the release of the hold , for my disappointment I couldn't find anything. Pedro called the Grassely's office and confirmed the news was not true. Somebody from the other forum also called and confirmed that the hold is intact. I don't know what is the true intention of the Grassley's office to confirm both ways.

I called Senator Grassley Office, 202 224 3744 and They say that Bill is STILL ON HOLD.

[gs1968]

To kd2008

Lots of confusion this AM after the report from Ron Gotcher's website.But Tatikonda who posted the first news has now confirmed that the hold is still in place after he called the Senator's office personally. This Bill, if the hold is released unconditionally without amendments,will pass with unanimous consent at the earliest possible opportunity after the release of the hold.One can cite the examples of the FCC nominees being confirmed on May 7 (Monday)as soon as the Senate returned from its recess. An earlier news report from CQ which started off all these rumors/discussion about the hold being lifted seemed to suggest that there were 2 other Republican senators opposing this Bill although no identities were revealed. I agree with Kanmani in one of these threads when she says that there have been no change in the underlying dynamics of this Bill for Sen.Grassley to change his stance.

[kuku82]

Before passing with unanimous consent (if at all we get to that stage), the bill needs to be amended to change the transition period years starting FY2013 onwards.....

To kd2008

Lots of confusion this AM after the report from Ron Gotcher's website.But Tatikonda who posted the first news has now confirmed that the hold is still in place after he called the Senator's office personally. This Bill, if the hold is released unconditionally without amendments,will pass with unanimous consent at the earliest possible opportunity after the release of the hold.One can cite the examples of the FCC nominees being confirmed on May 7 (Monday)as soon as the Senate returned from its recess. An earlier news report from CQ which started off all these rumors/discussion about the hold being lifted seemed to suggest that there were 2 other Republican senators opposing this Bill although no identities were revealed. I agree with Kanmani in one of these threads when she says that there have been no change in the underlying dynamics of this Bill for Sen.Grassley to change his stance.

[gs1968]

Another interesting article about a House Equivalent to the Start Up Act but I am not sure what the prospects are-Please draw your own conclusions

http://nationaljournal.com/daily/sen...sures-20120605

[gs1968]

I apologize for posting in bits and pieces but we should make an attempt to watch this on Sunday

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/liv...gration-333365

Apparently he is interviewing Michael Bloomberg

[qesehmk]

Tatikonda - got your message. My hunch is Grassley has indeed lifted his hold. However doesn't want to acknolwledge for some reason - may be waiting for right time and place to declare it. I said the same thing to Pedro 3-4 days back. So when I saw your post this morning - it only strengthened my initial hunch.

I called Senator Grassley Office, 202 224 3744 and They say that Bill is STILL ON HOLD.