Today's News

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Published

12 years ago

January 28, 2013

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It appears that comprehensive immigration reform is finally going to be put into place, according to this news article on CBS, as well as this article in The Miami Herald, and this one in Vanity Fair.

The article on the CBS site basically sums up data they, and the Associate Press obtained, here are the proposed comprehensive immigration reform changes:

Creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already here, contingent upon securing the border and better tracking of people here on visas;

Reforming the legal immigration system, including awarding green cards to immigrants who obtain advanced degrees in science, math, technology or engineering from an American university;

Creating an effective employment verification system to ensure that employers do not hire illegal immigrants;

Allowing more low-skill workers into the country and allowing employers to hire immigrants if they can demonstrate they couldn’t recruit a U.S. citizen; and establishing an agricultural worker program.

The ability ALREADY exists for employers to hire foreign workers, which is called PERM Labor Certifcation, and has been around for many years.

And there is also an Agricultural worker program.

It’s more likely that adjustments to existing programs will be made. And also, if the House of Representatives has to be involved in any way, a pitched battle of epic proportions will undoubtedly take place.

So as we know comprehensive immigration reform will some day be a reality, and that might actually be within the next 4 years, let’s count this as just a prelude of what’s to come.

The government clearly defines the system as follows:

The actual process for permanent labor certification varies depending upon the program being used. This Web site contains information regarding the process for filing for each of the programs under the Department of Labor’s (DOL) jurisdiction. The filing of applications is the responsibility of the employer, not the employee. However, the employee can benefit from understanding the program being utilized in his/her behalf. In general, the DOL works to ensure that the admission of foreign workers to work in the U.S. will not adversely affect the job opportunities, wages and working conditions of U.S. workers. Once a permanent labor certification application has been approved by the DOL, the employer will need to seek the immigration authorization from USCIS.

We’ll be updating this article throughout the day, and will report back with any major developments.