Recently Senator Issa (R-CA) introduced a bill in house to eliminate the diversity immigrant program and to re-allocate those visas to certain employment-based immigrants who obtain an advanced degree in the United States in field of science or medicine. According to proposed bill visas shall be made available, in a number not to exceed 55,000, to qualified immigrants who-- - are a member of a profession holding an advanced degree obtained within the United States;
- ·obtained such degree within the United States during the 5-year period preceding the date on which the petition filed under section 204(a)(1)(F) for classification under this subparagraph is filed; or has resided continuously in the United States in a lawful nonimmigrant status since obtaining such degree; and
- whose services in the sciences or medicine
Why Introducing this Bill a good idea?
The diversity visa program applicant need not be skilled, professional, have an advanced degree or in an occupation that US is in dearth of. They are just picked randomly. When they come to US they may not be able to contribute to the economy immediately. It should be noted that to qualify for a Diversity Visa, you only need a high school education or its equivalent or to qualify on the basis of your work experience, individual must, within the past five years, have two years of experience in an occupation that is designated as Job Zone 4 or 5, classified in a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) range of 7.0 or higher. Additionally it is also limited to certain countries that are poorly represented yet in the US. People from countries such as Philippines, Mexico and other nationalities are automatically not included in the list as a result. This program was good when it was first enacted to encourage more diversity but since then US has been a melting pot of vastly diversified population, so this may not be necessary any more. There is no doubt that America needs talented and skilled workers in science and medicine for continuous economic growth to keep their competitive edge over other countries. It doesn't make sense for an individual who has studied in an US University and currently employed by an US employer to go back home and compete with US companies rather than staying here and contributing towards innovation in their field.
Number of Bills to stop the Diversity Visa category has been introduced in Congress regularly almost since the DV program started with the last Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 1989. None of these bills have ever made it very far in House. So in my opinion, readers should not be disappointed if this bill is killed in the House once again.
You can read complete text of the H.R.43.IH Bill here.
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