Tracking S.1085: VISA recapture bill

[BPforGC]

This is the latest on the Visa capture bill.

This thread is to track the progress of S.1085 legislation.

http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/.../~c1111gR7Z4::

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill...tab=committees

This recapture bill was introduced in the US senate and it has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. It has ten members with 6 democrats who usually favor immigrants , including the chairman Sen. Charles Schumer, one of the sponsors of the bill. It will clear the committee, no doubt, but how fast?

IV should focus on this legislation getting passed. It has provisions for the unused visas in any category for the oversubscribed quota. This will definitely help reduce the backlog.

Lets focus on getting this bill passed. It is for the people who play by the rules and obey the laws of the country. Who pay taxes and contribute to the economy. Lets try to get this bill passed and capture all the VISAs lost due to the inefficiency of DoL and USCIS.

[amitga]

There are better chances for this bill to pass, since this is tied with the family immigration. We should put full energy to get this bill passed and start a funding campaign ASAP for this bill.

[realizeit]

Salient features of Bill: S.1085

After analyzing this bill, I found the following:

1. This bill will recapture all those unused employment based visas (gcs) from 1997 till 2008 and it will add those recaptured visas to this year's employment based quota.

2. After the passage of this bill, any unused visas will rollover to the next year. So, no more wastage of visas as we go forward.

3. Per country limit will be increased from 7% to 10%, so more folks from over subscribed countries would be able to come under the normal yearly quota.

4. We will be able to avail the benefits of the recapture after 60 days of the passage of the bill. That means, if they are able to recapture 220,000 (approx) employment based visas, the employment based category will be able to use all those after 60 days of the passage of this bill. USCIS is pre-adjudicating all I485s pending and if this bill gets passed in say for eg by October 30, almost all (80%) in this community (who filed 485) would be able get their GCs in Jan and Feb of 2010.


What makes this bill much more interesting is:

1. This is not a bill targetting the issues of Employment based category - So there won't be a huge backlash against this in the name of the economy and recession. The provisions for the employment category are just one item in this bill.

2. Family based immigration reform has a wider range of support from all kinds of groups unlike Employment based immigration reform. Just search for this bill "Reuniting Families Act" in google news and you can identify all those organizations supporting this bill (they all have a news release).

Complete Text of this Bill:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.1085:

[starscream]

especially the reasons you gave as to why this bill is interesting...this bill does not scream employment based immigration but as I see it it does have has employment based visa provisions along with much wider and extensive family based gc provisions ..also there is no mention of temporaray visas / temp workers with tis bill..no mention of legalizing illegals to legal ....it is focussed exclusively on reducing waiting time for GCs for folks who are in the queue with more emphasis on family based

Originally Posted by realizeit

Salient features of Bill: S.1085

After analyzing this bill, I found the following:

1. This bill will recapture all those unused employment based visas (gcs) from 1997 till 2008 and it will add those recaptured visas to this year's employment based quota.

2. After the passage of this bill, any unused visas will rollover to the next year. So, no more wastage of visas as we go forward.

3. Per country limit will be increased from 7% to 10%, so more folks from over subscribed countries would be able to come under the normal yearly quota.

4. We will be able to avail the benefits of the recapture after 60 days of the passage of the bill. That means, if they are able to recapture 220,000 (approx) employment based visas, the employment based category will be able to use all those after 60 days of the passage of this bill. USCIS is pre-adjudicating all I485s pending and if this bill gets passed in say for eg by October 30, almost all (80%) in this community (who filed 485) would be able get their GCs in Jan and Feb of 2010.


What makes this bill much more interesting is:

1. This is not a bill targetting the issues of Employment based category - So there won't be a huge backlash against this in the name of the economy and recession. The provisions for the employment category are just one item in this bill.

2. Family based immigration reform has a wider range of support from all kinds of groups unlike Employment based immigration reform. Just search for this bill "Reuniting Families Act" in google news and you can identify all those organizations supporting this bill (they all have a news release).

Complete Text of this Bill:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.1085:

[psaxena]

Now this seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel ( not of an incoming train. hope so)

Lets support this bill, there is a website I am trying to remeber the address, I heard while driving on kfyi radio station, where all the bills are listed and people can poll on bills and this will help the lawmakers to find what bill is popular and which one is not.

I'll try to find and post it on the forum, we can poll and support this bill.

[mayhemt]

You mean opencongress.org?
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s1085/show

Originally Posted by psaxena

Now this seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel ( not of an incoming train. hope so)

Lets support this bill, there is a website I am trying to remeber the address, I heard while driving on kfyi radio station, where all the bills are listed and people can poll on bills and this will help the lawmakers to find what bill is popular and which one is not.

I'll try to find and post it on the forum, we can poll and support this bill.

[rajuram]

Time to wake up and push this bill. IV should motivate members to write to law makers. Also have a funding drive.

[Openarms]

This is one of the most important bill for all our current chronic problems... once we get to solve these with this bill... we can focus futuristic goals as mentioned in IV list.... IV admin should make this an important thread and follow..encourage people to follow with congressmen and senators.

By the way whose effort is behind this bill introduction??? Is IV core has any role in this???

[WillIWin?]

Am I wrong or is there very little interest in this bill from IV - or for that matter other immigration groups?
I understand that its going to be hard to get ANY legislation passed over the next couple of quarters, but I think getting behind these inital ones will lead to a growing momentum. This momentum is what will eventually lead to any immigration changes..
My 2 cents..

[Leo07]

Pappu or other IV folks, can you please post your comments on this thread?

Best!

[pappu]

We anticipated such bills from various interest groups: nurses bill, Ag Jobs bill etc are also introduced. Watch out for CIR developments at this time.

[va_dude]

CIR? There is no indication that CIR will happen this year. Why wait for it? It brings up too much anti-immigrant sentiments amongst citizens affected by the recession.

We can just go ahead and support this bill right?

Is there an official stand on this bill from IV core?

[pappu]

Originally Posted by va_dude

CIR? There is no indication that CIR will happen this year.

True. But that is true for every other bill. Just the fact that a bill is introduced means nothing. More details about CIR were discussed in our last conference call. We will have another conference call next month and you can join to hear CIR developments.
Why wait for it?
We need to wait for it. Please join the donor forum and donor conference calls to know more details.
It brings up too much anti-immigrant sentiments amongst citizens affected by the recession.
Why do you think this family bill will not bring anti-immigrant sentiments?

We can just go ahead and support this bill right?
Sending emails, phone calls and faxes will not help at this point. You may want to join your state chapter and meet the lawmaker offices in person. Involve your chapter leader and members in the process as well.We will guide you. But do not go to support this bill. Go to them asking for xxxxx that we will tell you once you have secured the appointment with the office. We will provide you with all the material and guidance. If we need to facilitate our provisions, this is what we need to do rather than sending any email or calls. They will have 0% effect at this time. Infact anyone sending emails from a junk email ID without revealing their name, phone number and home address in the email is wasting their energy and hurting themselves and others in this community. Lawmakers want to hear from their constituents and you need to be a real person. An office should be able to contact you and know you have a legitimate concern in their constituency. You should urge others not to undertake such misguided attempts of spamming lawmaker offices and follow a proper process instead. Ask people on other websites who are sending random emails to come to IV and join our advocacy effort. We will help them reach out to their lawmaker offices so that they can go and meet these offices to convey their pain and suffering themselves.

Is there an official stand on this bill from IV core? Already stated above

Answers in bold above.

[Openarms]

who are those interest groups that are able to introduce VISA recapture bill?? kudos for them...

[va_dude]

The only reason i feel this so called "family-bill" will not generate too much anti-immigrant sentiment is because it doesn't have the baggage of being termed the CIR bill.

The very mention of the word CIR stirs up strong responses and emotions from all parties involved.

This bill seems to tackle a smaller problem rather than going for a big bang solution that the CIR would attempt. That's why i felt it might have a better chance to succeed.

Thanks for all the other info. Much appreciated.