115,000 H-1Bs . . . OR EVEN MORE?

The news around Comprehensive Immigration Reform is moving at a breakneck pace.  On Tuesday, President Obama will speak in Las Vegas.  This is expected to be the launch for the President’s plan for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  The President is firmly behind CIR and likely will sign any bill that legalizes most or all of the 12 million or so undocumented. 

The House of Representatives was expected to be a different story.  Unlike the Senate, which is controlled by the President’s Democratic party, the House is controlled by the Republicans who were expected to put up a bigger fight on immigration. 

Yet, in a closed door meeting on Friday, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told the Ripon Society that a group of dedicated policy wonks and politicians have been meeting on and off for three or four years and that, “Frankly, I think they basically have an agreement”.

As if that weren't encouraging enough, Computerworld reported on Friday that a bipartisan group of influential Senators were ready to introduce a high-skilled immigration bill, the Immigration Innovation Act,  that calls for the H-1B cap to increase to 115,000 per year, from its current 65,000.  The H-1B cap would contain a “market-based escalator” that would increase or decrease the H-1B cap as employer-demand ebbed and flowed, although it could never fall below the 115,000 threshold.  

Things are moving very fast in immigration.  If you are in healthcare and want to be sure that this once-in-a-decade opportunity to influence immigration legislation is not missed, please contact MU Law.  We are working with a dedicated group of industry leaders to push for positive immigration reform in healthcare, but we need more help.