The Department of Homeland Security has added the subject of employment-based visa modernization to its regulatory agenda, sparking renewed hope for U.S. green card applicants. While the addition of an item to the regulatory agenda does not guarantee a rule change, it clearly indicates that the issue is on the radar screen.
The specific proposal on the agenda is to modernize the immigrant visa system with respect to the adjustment of status process and employment-based immigration by allowing certain approved Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Form I-140) beneficiaries to obtain work authorization, clarifying the meaning of portable work authorization, and removing unnecessary restrictions on the ability to change jobs or progress in careers, as well as provide relief to workers facing lengthy adjustment delays.
Currently, many beneficiaries of approved Form I-140 petitions face significant delays before they are able to apply to adjust status to U.S. permanent resident (green card holder). Primarily, the delays are experienced by nationals of China, India, Mexico, and The Philippines, who represent the highest demand for green cards. While waiting patiently to become eligible to apply for U.S. permanent residence, these workers are significantly restricted in their ability to change the circumstances of their employment, including their employer, job location, and their job itself.
This addition to the regulatory agenda follows President Obama’s release, last November, of his Memorandum for Modernizing and Streamlining the U.S. Immigrant Visa System for the 21st Century. This memorandum recognized the enormous contribution of immigrants to the U.S., pointing out that immigrants represent the majority of this country’s Ph.Ds in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering, and that more than a quarter of all U.S.-based Nobel Laureates in the past 50 years have been foreign-born. President Obama called for recommendations to immigrant (and non-immigrant) visa processing with a focus on reforms that, inter alia, reduce government costs, improve services for applicants, and reduce burdens on employers, and that facilitate the use all immigrant visa numbers consistent with demand.
Please contact our office directly if you would like additional information with respect to employment-based immigrant visa petitions, including how to best preserve your ability to adjust status to U.S. permanent resident when you become eligible to do so.