This afternoon, the House of Representatives passed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 by a vote of 365 to 65.

Next step is the Senate version of the Bill, S. 386, which currently has 34 Cosponsors. It is unclear whether there will be enough support for the Senate to take any action on the bill. There is growing opposition. Even though the bill simply removes discrimination from the existing law and does not change the number of green cards that can be issued, concerns of increased wait times for nationals of countries with lesser demand remains.

Senator Grassley (R-IA) added an amendment which would add additional H-1B oversight and this was agreed to by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), the sponsor of S. 386. But, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) objected to the bill being brought to the Senate floor last week after his amendment to create a special exception for nurses was not considered. Other Democrats have raised concerns that the bill would reallocate green cards among different nationalities without a needed increase in the number green cards.

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