3.1.2023 5:00 PM, Emma Camp Today, however, the country faces severe demographic pressure from slowing population growth, an aging population, and declining birth rates. Immigration Provisions in the America COMPETES Act of 2022 Last week, the House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act of 2022, an economic bill that seeks to bolster the United States' global competitiveness in manufacturing and technology. The House bill includes three major immigration-related provisions that would reshape the United States high-skilled immigration policy. America has long enjoyed an asymmetric advantage as a land of opportunity and a beacon of freedom and democracy to those throughout the world. Ross Amendment Adds Health Professions: An amendment at the Rules Committee sponsored by Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC) added health professions and related programs to the STEM fields for which Ph.D.s are eligible under the bill to be exempt from the annual limit on employment-based green cards. Challenges in the Senate: Before the House-passed immigration provisions become law, they must overcome three challenges in the Senate. The provision would allow U.S. employers to gain a significant competitive edge by offering the chance at permanent residence to outstanding researchers from around the world, including those early in their careers and engaging in cutting-edge work. It would require employers to rescind existing non-competes within 180 days of finalization and actively inform workers that such non-competes are no longer in effect. The fee could have been removed, the source noted, but the House Rules Committee would not waive the PAYGO requirement, so either way, the amendment would not have been in order. First, the bill grants Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and refugee status to qualifying residents of Hong Kong and their families. The individual must work in the field of their degree. W-2 visas would be limited and allocated based on the size of the start-up and could be used for up to six years, assuming the nonimmigrant meets certain requirements. Read more about Bill Analysis: Let Immigrants Kickstart Employment Act, Read more about Bill Summary: The Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act, Read more about Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2019: Bill Summary, Keepers of the American Dream Awards Reception, High Skilled Immigration: Americas Key for Competitiveness and National Security, International Entrepreneur Parole Program, Bipartisan bill to Expedite Uyghur Refugee Process Introduced. Some owners could become immigrant entrepreneurs if their companies were successful enoughmeaning that they could apply for a green card. 1.27.2022 5:05 PM. Serving economic news and views every morning. Third, measures in the bill fund scholarships for U.S. students in STEM fields by charging $1,000 supplemental fees for those receiving a green card or status under the legislation. For the W-2 visa essential employee visa, the number available to each company is dependent on their company size. Then, the company must have created at least 10 qualified jobs. The COMPETES Act proposes two new nonimmigrant visa programs, one for "entrepreneurs with an ownership interest in a start-up entity" and one for "essential employees of a start-up entity." Members of Congress have recognized that other countries are doing a better job than the United States attracting and retaining such talent. The America COMPETES Act passed the House on February 4, 2022 by a vote of 222-210. Leadership in China, Russia and other countries have taken steps to help ensure their nations have the scientists and engineers needed in the 21st century. Should they be included in the final bill, the immigration provisions discussed here would be a part of that legacy. They are based on bills and ideas that have gained significant backing from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. The American Action Forum has proposed such a legal immigration system that could advance entrepreneurship, augment productivity gains, fill skills gaps, and combat demographically driven labor force declines. The bill would also exempt foreigners with doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics from country-based numerical limits on immigrant visas. To counter these trends, Congress should undertake reform to increase the level of legal immigration, which can translate into greater labor force growth. Third, it is unknown whether Senate Democrats will fight to keep the immigration measures. On January 25, 2022, the House Rules Committee added Rep. Zoe Lofgren's (D-CA) LIKE Act to. The Biden administration recently reversed restrictive guidance in the Foreign Affairs Manualadded during the Trump administrationthat would have a similar effect to the Foster amendment. But the bill is right to recognize that immigrants are key to keeping this country prosperous. These measures will help ensure that America is once again the number one destination for the best and brightest innovators and the next generation of entrepreneurs worldwide.. Refugee Admissions Program, again without counting toward the annual refugee ceiling. The term critical infrastructure under 42 U.S.C. 4521) is a 3,600-page legislative package designed to boost U.S. scientific research, education, manufacturing, and technological advancement in the face of growing economic and technological competition with China. Subscribe to Reason Roundup, a wrap up of the last 24 hours of news, delivered fresh each morning. Approximately 56% of postdoctoral researchers work on temporary visas, with many in biological sciences, medical sciences, engineering and research and development. In addition, as other countries open their doors to Hong Kongers, the U.S. has done little to extend protections to those persecuted by the CCP. We work with our clients to ensure they get the right advice for their specific needs. I write about globalization, business, technology and immigration. Aging out happens primarily due to delays caused by the per-country limit and an inadequate number of employment-based green cards. 42% of all STEM PhD graduates from U.S. institutions are international students. The U.S. immigration system needs fundamental reform to counter worsening demographic trendssuch as the countrys declining birthrate and aging populationand to refocus immigration criteria to prioritize high-skilled workers. insisted a separate immigration policy legislation. The over 2,900-page bill is the counterpart to a similar bill passed by the Senate in June 2021, the U.S. Uyghurs there are. The House on Friday voted 222-210 to approve the America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology, and Economic Strength ( COMPETES) Act of 2022, with one Republican crossing party lines to vote for it and one Democrat voting against it. Improving skill levels results in higher productivity growth, which translates into higher worker compensation and standards of living. Finally, the bill would create a Special Immigration Status for up to 5,000 Hong Kong college graduates to emigrate to the U.S. for five years following the bills passage. Certain Hong Kong residents facing persecution from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are eligible for refugee and asylum status, without counting toward the annual refugee or immigration ceilings. Based on data from the Department of Education (IPEDS), this provision could benefit several thousand non-resident immigrant Ph.D. graduates who complete their doctorates each year at accredited U.S. research universities. The bill already covered physicians with a medical residency. The bill is a significantly amended version of the U.S. Congress has the opportunity to change that in legislation headed to a House-Senate conference committee. Democratic politicians are marketing the COMPETES Act as a way to outcompete and rebuke China. If the company satisfies certain growth targets, the visa may be extended for an additional three-year period. An optimist would say the time has come for change. February 2, 2022 Number 10 The White House announced a set of minor immigration policy changes last week aimed at better welcoming STEM students and scholars from abroad. This provision addresses a loophole in the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, which did not apply to foreign-born adoptees over 18 when the law went into effect. 4521), contains the first immigration reforms to be considered in regular order by this Congress. A university would meet the definition of a qualified U.S. research institution if it was an accredited institution of higher education and met one of the following requirements during at least three years over the period of time when the visa applicant was studying for their Ph.D.: (1.) They all seek information from USCIS about their processing logic; the number of adjudicators they have adjudicating these applications; how long it takes to adjudicate a single application; whether USCIS a policy of de-prioritizing adjudications for nationals of backlogged countries; how USCIS calculates its processing times; and whether it has slowed these adjudications down intentionally. It would also allow 5,000 high-skilled Hongkongers to immigrate to America each year. 5195c means systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters.. The amendment made in order amends the Child Status Protection Act to protect dependent children of green card applicants and long-term dependent children of employment-based nonimmigrants from aging out of our legal immigration system. The amendment was sponsored by Representatives Ross (D-NC), Miller-Meeks (R-IA), Lofgren (D-CA), Salazar (R-FL) and others. Hong Kong residents would also have preferential immigration status and be considered separately from Chinese applicants. This is at least the sixth bill with significant immigration provisions that the House of Representatives has passed in the last 12 months alone. More broadly in terms of skills-based immigration reform, I think its essential to maintaining our national competitiveness., I dont know what the exact proposal would be and what that would actually look like, said Sen. James Lankford (R-OK). These scientists were crucial in America becoming the first nation to develop the atomic bomb. Contact The bill would give certain persecuted Uyghurs a P-2 designation, granting them access to the U.S. Non-U.S. citizens who own a start-up company, are essential employees of that company, or their families, the W visa is proposed. The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced the ambitious 2022 Act to create opportunities for America's manufacturing, preeminence in technology, and economic strength, or America COMPETES Act of 2022. Because the number of available green card visas changes each fiscal year, on October 1, 2022the first day of FY 2023unused, employment-based FY 2022 green card visas will be reallocated and. Practice Areas Colloquially described as a "China . A number of the earliest U.S. winners of the Nobel Prize in physics were Jewish scientists who fled Europe after the rise of Hitler and Mussolini, noted a National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysis. In this episode of the AAF. The Senate had passed a similar bill, the US Innovation & Competition Act (USICA), in June 2021. Although the COMPETES Act passed the House in a partisan vote of 222 to 210, the immigration provisions could potentially garner support from some Senate Republicans. Walter A. Ewing, Ph.D., is an Editor and Writer at the American Immigration Council. As discussed here, the bill creates a temporary visa for foreign-born entrepreneurs who qualify and Allows the founder to apply for and receive lawful permanent residence if the startup entity meets certain additional benchmarks. The lack of a startup visa disadvantages the U.S. compared to other nations like Canada in retaining and attracting foreign-born entrepreneurs. The America COMPETES Act also helps build our domestic STEM workforce and encourages start-up companies to establish roots here, Rep. Lofgren said in a statement. Other Republicans voiced receptiveness to the immigration proposals. In a new insight, AAF President Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Whitney Appel summarize and evaluate The America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength (COMPETES) Acts proposed immigration reforms. Again, if targets are reached, the visa can be extended again for two additional one-year periods. 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