The first draft of CIR bill (S.744) was released around 2:00 AM on April 17, 2013. Please see the summary below. Remember this is only a bill (not law). It will first be debated and modified in Senate for about two months. Then it will be sent to House. This bill will then again be debated in House and modified further - which may takes some more time. See this article:
How a bill becomes law.
Here is a quick overview of the CIR bill. The complete CIR bill is 844 pages.
Please remember that each clause/amendment/item listed below MAY have a different effective date (ranging from immediate to 18+ months). We have listed
some of the new effective dates below (but not all).
It is unknown whether many of these changes apply to new applicants only or would it be applicable to existing applications also.
Employment Based Immigration:
1. Following people are excluded from annual cap of 140,000 (unlimited visa)
a. All derivative beneficiaries (spouse and children)
b. All EB1 applicants
c. PhD holders (all fields)
d. Certain physician
who have completed the
foreign residency requirements under section 212(e) or obtained
a waiver of these requirements or an exemption requested by an
interested State agency or by an interested Federal agency under
section 214(l)
e. Applicants with MS/PhD in STEM fields from accredited US institution +
this degree received in less than 5 years from (I-140) petition filing
date + have current job offer
All these applicants would not have to file PERM applications. They can directly file concurrent I-140 and I-485 application. They can also concurrently file EAD/AP application when filing I-485 application.
2. EB categories which are subject to annual cap of 140,000:
a. EB2 category: 40% (or 56,000 visas each year instead of 40,040) + unused EB5 visas
b. EB3 category: 40% (or 56,000 visas) + unused EB2 visas
c. EB4 category: 10% (or 14,000 visas) + unused EB3 visas
d. EB5 category: 10% (or 14,000 visas) + unused EB4 visas
e. EB1 category: Unlimited
3. Startup visas for foreign entrepreneurs.
4. Eliminate 7% per country cap; effective first FY from the date when this bill becomes law. This means if CIR passes after Oct 1 (FY2014), then this will be effective from FY 2015.
5. Recapture unused visas from 1992 to 2013 starting from FY 2015
Note: Beneficiaries currently account for 55% of total visas. Hence removing them from cap will increase visas for everyone by around 2.22 times. Example: Currently 100 visas are allotted to 45 primary applicants (and remaining 55 to their beneficiaries). Removing beneficiary from cap will allot all 100 visas to 100 primary applicants (and their 122 beneficiaries). Hence 222 allotted visas will actually use only 100 visas from USCIS (or 2.22 times more visas).
Merit Based Immigration (to be enacted 5 years later):
The merit based visa, created in the fifth year after enactment, awards
points to individuals based on their education, employment, length of residence in the US and
other considerations. Those individuals with the most points earn the visas. Those who
access the merit based pathway to earn their visa are expected to be talented individuals,
individuals in our worker programs and individuals with family here. 120,000 visas will be
available per year based on merit. The number would increase by 5% per year if demand
exceeds supply in any year where unemployment is under 8.5%. There will be a maximum
cap of 250,000 visas.
Family Based Immigration:
1. Change annual cap from 226,000 to 161,000. Following is the allocation:
a. Unmarried adult children of U.S. citizen: 35%
b. Married adult children of U.S. citizen under age 31 at the time of filing: 25%
c. Unmarried adult children of lawful permanent resident: 40%
Annual cap change from 226,000 to 161,000 is effective 18 months after date of enactment. Though the annual cap will decrease, overall the number of family based immigration visas issued will increase (because of expanded definition of immediate relative).
2. Expand V visa to to allow following individuals with an approved family petition (I-130) to live in the U.S:
a. Unmarried adult children of permanent residents/U.S. citizen
b. Married adult children of U.S. citizen under 31 years at time of filing the petition.
3.
No more visa for siblings (brothers/sisters) of U.S. citizens 18 months after enactment of CIR. Hence this will remove F4 category.
4. Immediate Relative now include a child or spouse of an alien admitted for lawful permanent residence.
5. Recapture unused visas from 1992 to 2013; effective first FY from the date when this bill becomes law
6. Increase per country cap from 7% to 15%.
Following applicants are excluded from annual FB cap (they have unlimited visas):
1. Spouses
and minor children of permanent residents
2. Spouses and minor children of U.S. citizen
3. Parents of U.S. citizen
Note: If a U.S. citizen sponsors their parents, then they can also (indirectly) sponsor their minor sibling (brother/sister). This is because the minor sibling would be considered derivative beneficiary of parents and hence would be able to immigrate with them.
