On December 2, 2020, the U.S. Senate passed its version of H.R. 1044, the “Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2020.” The Senate version of the bill now returns to the U.S. House of Representatives, which passed its version of the bill over a year ago. If the Senate version passes the House without change and is signed into law by the President, it would remove the per-country limits on all employment-based immigrant visa categories, among other things. Since Congress is scheduled to end its 2020 session shortly, chances for passage in the House are unclear.
The bill includes several controversial provisions, such as an annual limit on the number of immigrants who could adjust from H-1B status to that of permanent resident and a bar on immigrants affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party or the Chinese military.
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