The Immigration Reform Bill has been passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday evening, 21^st May 2013. The members of the Senate panel voted 13-5, favoring the amendments proposed in the Immigration Reform Bill. The Immigration Bill after discussion of almost 200 amendments, is now sent to the Senate Floor for consideration.

Immigration Bill’s Focus

The Immigration bill primarily focused on providing border security, create a pathway to citizenship to the millions of illegal immigrants, legal immigration, etc. Upon approval of the new Immigration Bill, Border Security Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, it is expected to largely benefit the Tech Industry.

The full list of Amendments considered are yet to follow. There were heated discussions on H-1B and L-1 Visa provisions. It was the final issue to be settled on Tuesday, before the Senate Judiciary Committee could pass the bill.

H-1B Visa Amendments Adjusted

• The number of H-1B visas each year will be increased from 65,000 to 110,000 subject to escalate upto 180,000, in increments of 10,000 based on the demand.
• An H-1B employee must be offered a minimum of Level II wage according to the considered amendments.

There were some amendments adjusted in terms of H-1B and L-1 Visa provisions and also for the H-1B dependent firms.

Who are H-1B Dependent Firms?

Those employers with more than 15 percent of their employees working under H-1B visa category come under H-1B Dependent Firms.

Outplacement Ban on Consulting Firms

The discussion on the H-1B and L-1 non-immigration program reforms was deciding the fate of H-1B dependent IT consulting firms. An H-1B dependent employer will be required to post their job posting on government sponsored website to offer job to an equally or better qualified U.S. citizen. Outplacement ban applies only to H-1B dependent employers. This can be overcome by applying an H-1B employee, green card simultaneously and reducing the total tally of H-1B and L-1 employees. If the H-1B candidates hired in a consulting firm have their green cards under processing, the employer may skip being an “H-1B Dependent Employer “.

What Next?

The Immigration Bill moves to the Full Senate, after extensive amendments were considered. The full Senate is expected to take up the bill in June and debating sessions would progress on the Immigration Reform.  The bill would require 60 votes to pass the 100-seat Senate. If the bill passes, it would then move to the House of Representatives.

The full list of approved amendments would be out soon. H1BWiki will update the list of amendments which will affect the non-immigrant visa holders. It’s too hard to say how favorable is the new immigration reform going to be for the non-immigrant visa holders at this point. But lets hope the Immigration Reform will provide better opportunities and a better future for those non-immigrants in the United States.