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On Monday, October 31st, the Senate began consideration of the budget reconciliation bill, which includes a proposal that would provide temporary relief from the H-1B visa blackout and employment-based immigrant visa backlogs, in exchange for increased fees on some petitions (see http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=17779). As we have been reporting to you, last July the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stopped accepting any more H-1B applications for Fiscal Year 2006, which just started last month on October 1st. In the vast majority of cases, no new H-1B visas are available until October 1, 2006! This is not right when a U.S. company needs to hire the talent it requires to remain competitive. Compounding this is the backlog in immigrant visas, which has a large segment of foreign national workers waiting years in a queue before they are eligible to file a final green card application.
The U.S. Senate is ready to act now, but this will require your help. Those with restrictionist views who do not favor immigration relief have been noisy and persistent in voicing their opposition to this proposal, so if this is important to your business your Senators need to hear from you now. In fact, the House version of the budget reconciliation bill contains no mention of H-1B or backlog relief, yet adds a $1500 processing fee for L-1 visas. Let Congress know that you have had enough of paying higher fees for less service and longer backlogs and that you need H-1B visas to be available now.
The link below will enable you to send an e-mail directly to the Senators and Congressman representing your district. Tell them you support the Senate Judiciary Committee proposal now under debate. It takes less than one minute to fill out and send. http://capwiz.com/aila2/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=8185761
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