President Trump asks Congress to enact merit-based immigration, silent on H1-B visas

[Dr. Jai Maharaj]

TRUMP ASKS CONGRESS TO ENACT MERIT-BASED IMMIGRATION,
SILENT ON H1-B VISAS

IANS, The Pioneer, dailypioneer.com
Monday, October 9, 2017

New York -- While keeping mum on H1-B visas, US President
Donald Trump has asked Congress to introduce a merit-
based immigration system that could benefit Indians but
would also deny green cards to some relatives of
immigrants.

Trump's 70-point enforcement plan calling for stiff
immigration reforms unveiled by the White house on Sunday
night would continue to allow the spouses and children of
immigrants to get green cards or permanent resident
status but not their brothers, sisters and parents.

The goal of the merit-based system that awards green
cards based on factors like education, employability and
English language proficiency is "to promote assimilation
and financial success", the White House said.

A merit-based system is likely to benefit India if the
national quotas limiting green cards to about 20,000 per
country per year are also done away with and they are
awarded purely on merit.

Because of the large number of highly qualified Indians,
most of the professionals from the country face an 11-
year wait to get green cards and a merit-based system
could cut down the delay. Professionals from all
countries except India and three others do not have to
wait for their green cards.

Trump's wide-ranging reform package proposes the stiffest
immigration reforms ever offered by an administration and
seeks to make good on his election promise of getting
tough on immigration.

But it faces strong opposition in the Congress from
Democrats and some Republicans making it unlikely to pass
in the near future.

The request to Congress for legislation formalises the
immigration reform plan he announced in August.

The proposals sent on Sunday deal only with permanent
immigration and with illegal immigration, and not with
the temporary H1-B visas given to professionals and
advanced degree-holders from US universities.

India has expressed concern over the future of H1-B visas
because Trump had said during his election campaign that
he would limit them because he asserted they affected the
employment prospects of Americans.

When External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met US
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last month, she raised
the H1-B visas.

So far the H1-B system has been functioning without any
changes and the immigration service is processing
applications at the same levels as before.

Continues at:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/top-stories/trump-asks-congress-to-enact-merit-based-immigration-silent-on-h1-b-visas.html

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

http://bit.do/jaimaharaj