Guyanese and other Caribbean immigrants will benefit from immigration amnesty in U.S.

Dear Editor:
A comprehensive agreement has been reached among a bipartisan group of Senators (Republicans and Democrats) to grant a limited amnesty to illegal immigrants as well as to allow American companies to bring in technical workers in shortage areas.  The deal was unveiled on Tuesday. The bill will benefit Guyanese and other Caribbean nationals, but it should be cautiously interpreted, especially bearing in mind that there are cut off dates for undocumented immigrants who can qualify for amnesty. It appears that the Senate will approve the bill but it is not clear if and when the House will take up the measure.
In order for the bill to become law, both Houses of Congress must approve the exact bill and it must be signed by the President. The bill is proposing a cutoff date for amnesty for those who came to the U.S. prior to December 2011.  Illegals will have to pay a fine and their back taxes.  Those with a criminal background will not be eligible for amnesty. It will take ten years for them to get a green card and an additional three years to become a citizen. The economy as a whole will benefit as these individuals will start paying taxes.
In addition, amnesty will add several billions of dollars to the treasury from fines and back taxes as application fees could be almost US$1000 each for a green card and citizenship. It is not clear if illegals would be allowed a waiver on humanitarian grounds to travel out of the country, as happened during the last amnesty in 1986.
The bill will increase the number of visas from 65K to 110K for foreign workers in the technical fields.  It also provides for seasonal farm workers, but no nannies, and will grant a limited number of green cards for them based on their years of service in the field.  In addition, the bill explicitly calls for a “crack down on abusers” of H-1B and L-1 visas and targets firms that tried to “outsource American jobs by prohibiting companies whose U.S. workforce largely consists of foreign guest-workers from obtaining additional H-1B and L visas”. This should meet the demands for certain specialist jobs from Asian workers (India, in particular) in the recovering U.S. economy.
The bill would call for first the recruiting of American workers prior to hiring an H-1B “non-immigrant” and this would be monitored by authorities who would expect companies to “post a detailed job opening on the Department of Labour’s website for at least 30 calendar days before hiring an H-1B applicant to fill that position.” Violations will result to hefty fines.
Employers would also be barred from recruiting or giving preference to H-1B or Optional Practical Training workers over American workers.
The increase in H-1B quotas could significantly relieve the pressure within the system that came from the long waiting times for visa processing, related to the rapid exhaustion of the annual quota.
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram