It has been interesting hearing the media coverage of the debate on the immigration laws being worked on at the moment. I saw this on cnet and started reading thinking I would hear the same argument that the new points system for green cards are bad for business since they won’t be able to bring in the right people. This is way it started but did at least go on to explain H1b visas.
The media coverage I have been hearing is very misleading they make it sound like an employer is going to have to use the new points system for bringing the right people into the county. The first thing to remember it is very very rare that a company will sponsor a green card for an employee not working in the US since it can end up taking three or more years to get. Instead they bring them into the country on an H1B specialst worker visa or an L1 inter company transfer visa. An H1b is good for up to 6 years. For companies it is going to be, if anything easier to bring a new employee to the US since the proposal is going to increase the number of H1b visas available per year.
What I think business is complaining about, is that if it is harder to get perminant residancy then people won’t want to come to the US.
I am not a huge fan of a visa or greencard appliction being tied to single company, since it opens up the employee to abuse by the employer. I think the point system potentially could be a fairer approach. However being able to covert from an H1b to a greencard is a key part of attracting talented people to work and stay in US.
Fortunately I am out of the immigration waiting game. I was able to get a greencard after getting married. Giving me the chance to abandon my work based application and change jobs.
