Why aren’t the candidates talking more about EB Immigration ?
I get asked this question a lot. I’ll be honest. Neither candidate in my opinion did a great job of addressing immigration so far. It is obviously a very challenging issue to discuss. If I were to guess, more of the U.S. likely feels that the Biden-Harris Administration has done a poor job at securing the Southern Border. At the same time, most of the U.S. likely feels that former President Trump has not been particularly welcome to immigrants in his rhetoric. One side is accused of being “anti-immigrant” and the other side is accused of “letting everyone in”. The answer depends on who you ask.
As an immigration attorney who focuses on employment-based immigration (EB Immigration), this is where I think both candidates have lost an opportunity to make a difference and sway voters. Talk more about employment-based immigration and investment-based immigration. The largest group of voters who are interested in work visas and employment green cards are South and East Asians. The party who can make inroads into this demographic will benefit. Again, talk is cheap. President Biden has had lots of Presidential Proclamations that talk about STEM and these STEM initiatives. However, the USCIS, an agency of the Executive Branch, has not shown that they pay very little attention to these proclamations.
If I was either candidate, I would discuss how beneficial employment-based immigration is to the United States. 1) When we have critical labor shortages we often need both skilled and unskilled foreign workers to come into the U.S. and work in under-filled jobs. 2) On the more exceptional side, they should discuss how scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, inventors, and other innovators can make a huge difference to our economy and country’s growth.
Trump or Harris should talk about “unicorns”. What are unicorns? A unicorn is a privately-held startup company valued at a billion dollars or more. That is a billion with a B! According to Forbes, immigrants have founded more than half (55%) of our nation’s unicorns. Almost 80% have an immigrant founder or an immigrant in a key leadership role. When there is a pilot shortage, a nursing shortage, a trucking shortage, a mechanics shortage, or a teaching shortage is where employment-based immigration should be in the forefront of political discussions.
U.S. Universities (at least for now) attract the best and the brightest international students from all over the world. Many of these bright young minds want to eventually settle here, get jobs, and start companies after studying in the States. We need more H-1B visas to be available and other new or expanded work visas categories to be created to keep these students employed here after graduation. OPT, CPT, and STEM OPT are wonderful programs. However, they only last 1-3 years. What will a graduate do to remain living and working in the U.S. if they can’t get one of the available visas?
International students are often forced to get additional expensive degrees, often ones they don’t even need, just to remain in the U.S. and get additional work authorization. Some students even pay to attend marginal programs or ones that aren’t even accredited just for the chance at Day 1 CPT. Many of these mostly private schools are benefiting from the lack of available work visas and green card opportunities for international students. So the schools are perfectly satisfied with the current system. However, are the students really benefiting? Is our country really benefiting?
I represent companies in addition to talented individuals. Some of my corporate clients wish they had better options to keep their valuable international students graduates for more than just a year or 2. Yes some can win the H-1B lottery but most won’t. Many would sponsor the students directly for green cards but the PERM process (labor certification) takes many years and is often unpredictable. Additionally, Indian nationals, some of the best and brightest international students we have, face incredibly long visa-bulletin waits just to get a green card once the rest of the USCIS obstacles are overcome. If I were a politician, I would promote a quicker and more streamlined process for work visas and eventual green cards for these valuable employees.
What could be done?
- Make more H-1B visas available
- Create other types of work-visa categories
- Speed up USCIS processing times outside of Premium Processing (which often creates other roadblocks such as increased Requests for Evidence)
- Speed up the PERM process for labor certification in sponsorship
- Create more immigrant visas available on the employment-side so that the visa backlog for EB-2 and EB-3 cases are more acceptable.
While I am not trying to be political or show any support to a particular candidate, I do feel that it would be in everyone’s best interest to cover immigration on the employment side. Interestingly, when I discuss my line of work to people of all political persuasions, the vast majority not only don’t object but actually support what I do. It is refreshing to hear the support. Now we just need more of it from our politicians.
This article does not constitute a solicitation or provision of legal advice and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. The answers provided should not be used as a substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney licensed or authorized to practice in your jurisdiction. You should always consult a suitably qualified attorney regarding any specific legal problem or matter on time.
U.S. Immigration Attorney Seth Finberg is a 2005 graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law. Seth is a member of the Georgia Bar and the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Mr. Finberg is the owner and founder of South Florida based Finberg Firm PLLC and he represents clients nationwide and internationally in business, employment, and investment immigration. He can be reached by phone at (305)-707-8787 or by email at info@finbergfirm.com or visiting www.finbergfirm.com.
