Should Congress adjust limitations on employment-based visas and green cards?
Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment Act of 2021 or the EAGLE Act of 2021 modifies requirements related to employment-based visas and addresses related issues. The bill increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15% and eliminates the per-country cap for employment-based immigrant visas.
Sponsor: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Democrat, California, District 19)
View full bill text ➔
How do you feel?
Oppose
Support
Opponents say
• "The EAGLE Act (H.R. 3648) does not strike the right balance of eliminating per-country limitations without adversely impacting others. Therefore, AILA does not support its passage and urges Congress to find an equitable solution for all individuals waiting for lawful permanent residence."
Source: AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association)
• "The United States currently places a 7 percent per-country cap for high-skilled EB visas. Eliminating this cap would initially reduce the current backlog and wait time for workers coming from the countries with the highest number of EB visa applications – India and China. About 75 percent of current EB visa applications are from those two countries alone. I am very sympathetic for those that have been waiting an extraordinarily long time for their EB visas, and want to find a solution to help, but we cannot create an unfair system that favors certain countries over others or hurts immigrants that do not happen to be from these nations. While 80 percent of H1-B visa holders are from India, a significant majority of EB visas go to skilled workers from over 100 different countries working in a wide range of industries. Eliminating the per-country cap would provide an unfair advantage to workers from backlogged countries – India and China."
Source: Sen. Rick Scott (Republican, Florida)
• "Known as the "per country cap," each country is allotted 7% of 140,000 employment-based Green Cards annually; this provision ensures that employment-based visas are available to a truly global talent pool in a variety of occupational sectors. It should not be scrapped; eliminating it would benefit one industry (Big Tech) and two groups of applicants (Indian tech workers and Chinese investors) and squeeze out all others."
Source: U.S. Tech Workers (U.S. Tech Workers)
Proponents say
• "A person from a large-population country with extraordinary qualifications who could contribute greatly to our economy and create jobs waits behind a person with lesser qualifications from a smaller country….we are now seeing recruiters from outside America luring those with the highest skills away from the U.S….The bipartisan EAGLE Act moves our country toward a system that de-emphasizes birthplace and better serves America. Simply put, it will allow U.S. companies to focus on what they do best – hiring smart people to create products and services, which creates jobs in our districts."
Source: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Democrat, California, District 19)
• "Utah is tied for the lowest unemployment rate in the country, leaving many companies to rely on foreign workers and navigate our complicated immigration system when there is a shortage of American’s seeking these positions. The bipartisan EAGLE Act will create a more fair employment-based visa system by eliminating per-country limitations and creating a first-come, first-served system focused on merit instead of country of origin, making it easier for Utah’s businesses to expand and compete globally."
Source: Rep. John Curtis (Republican, Utah, District 3)
• "This is an important bipartisan bill that would help address the excessive backlogs and create a fairer system for everyone….There are many facets of the immigration system that need congressional attention, and this has been near the top of that list for too many years. It is reassuring to see bipartisan leadership continue to move forward and tackle tough problems."
Source: Ali Narooni (President and CEO of National Immigration Forum)
