Hatch Discusses "Commonsense Changes" for High-Skilled Immigration

Thanks, everyone, for being here today, and thank you to our panelists.

I'm really glad we're having this discussion. As we all know, there's been a lot of debate recently about immigration. These debates have focused primarily on issues related toillegal immigration such as border security and DACA.

But illegal immigration is only half the picture. Legal immigration is also a crucially important subject.

And of course, within the broader category of legal immigration, there are subcategories. Family-based immigration. Employment-based immigration. Immigrant visas. Nonimmigrant visas. Green cards. We're here today to talk about employment-based green cards.

In doing so, it's important for us to understand what an employment-based green card is. It's not an H-1B visa. It's not an H-2B visa. It's a document that confers lawful permanent resident status on an individual, and it requires a much higher showing than an H-1B or other temporary worker visa.

Depending on the category, an employment-based green card requires an employer to show that there is no qualified American worker available to fill the position. The employer must also show that hiring the foreign worker will not negatively impact the wages and working conditions of American workers who are similarly employed.

I'm sure we've all seen the stories in the media about bad actors who have used nonimmigrant visa programs to outsource jobs. Well, that's not possible with employment-based green cards--or at least, it's significantly more difficult--in part because of the labor market tests I've just described. So let's be sure to keep that in mind.

Let me turn now to two problems with our current employment-based green card system that I think we really need to address.

First is the green card backlog, which is driven in part by per-country caps. Our laws currently cap the number of employment-based green cards that can be issued each year to a given country. This means that individuals from small countries with relatively few emigrants to the United States face relatively short green card delays, while individuals from large countries like India and China face decades-long delays.

There is no good reason to force a worker from a large country to wait longer to obtain a green card simply because he or she happens to come from a large country. We should care about skills, not country of origin. The result is that individuals from large countries who come to the United States on temporary worker visas end up stuck in limbo for many years, unable to change jobs or seek advancement for fear of losing their place in the green card line.

A second, related problem has to do with the process for transitioning from a temporary worker visa to an employment-based green card. As I mentioned, there are certain labor market tests that an employer must satisfy in order to successfully petition for a green card for an employee.

Under current law, even after satisfying these tests, the employee cannot file for adjustment of status until a green card number becomes available. This has the practical effect of preventing individuals here on temporary worker visas from changing jobs until a green card number becomes available, because a person who changes jobs before filing for adjustment of status loses his or her place in the green card line.

Combined with the decades-long green card backlog for individuals from large countries like India or China, this means that workers here on temporary worker visas who wish to transition to lawful permanent resident status may be stuck in the same job for years on end. This creates a power imbalance between employer and employee that can lead to below-market wages and subpar working conditions. It's a real problem.

My Immigration Innovation Act, or I-Squared Act, would solve both of these problems. First, it would eliminate the per-country cap on employment-based green cards. Second, it would allow individuals on the path to a green card to file for adjustment of status once their employer has satisfied the labor market tests and obtained an approved immigrant petition.

Immigration is a thorny subject, but these are two commonsense changes that I believe can gain broad support and make a real difference for our country.

Thank you.

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