The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, headed by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), will continue the ‘Mark-up’ of Senate Bill S.744 on Tuesday, May 14th, 2013. The Committee will debate and potentially amend portions of Title IV of the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act.” This is the portion of the Bill that deals with the majority of non-immigrant temporary visas, including those for high-skilled immigrant workers, entrepreneurship and innovation programs as well as many of the miscellaneous visitor visas. These visas include the H-1B and L visa categories that most high technology companies use to employ many of the foreign workers in the United States.
The Judiciary Committee in the throes of a spirited debate on the best way forward to transform the immigration landscape into one that is fair, balanced and addresses the immigration needs of the United States. The S.744, in its current form, intends to impose a host of restrictive laws and onerous regulation for companies that employ a large number of high skilled foreign workers. United States based technology companies have invested heavily in the debate and many of their ardent priorities are reflected in the Bill. A true sense of the mood of the Senate and the momentum of certain provisions of the Bill, as they, pertain to employment based visas will emerge through the ‘mark-up’ process.
We will continue to monitor developments and provide additional updates.
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