Finally something newsworthy on the immigration reform front! For months, we have been hearing about a bipartisan House comprehensive immigration reform bill. Dubbed the House Gang of 7, the bipartisan House representatives were drafting their own version of immigration reform. However, despite so much speculation, last week two Republican members deflected from the group, thereby stopping that process. While there have been 5 separate bills at the House that have not been voted on yet, the hope for something comprehensive was still on the table- until last week.
Today, Politico reports that there will be a House Democrat comprehensive bill introduced on Wednesday (that’s tomorrow!). It appears they will take the Senate bill (s.744) and edit the controversial issues out and create a House version of that bill. Here is a link to the story on www.politico.com. Thank you Politico for sharing this big news.
Watson Immigration Law is excited to hear about it as we see hope in this step. As our regular readers will know, at Watson Immigration Law, we have been happy with the Senate bill and welcome a House version of the same bill.
What do we expect to see? We expect to see a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented people. We expect to see the Family-based immigration provisions in tact. It would be nice to see the sibling category return but that would be asking too much. We expect to see more H1bs and work authorization for H4 visa holders. But most importantly, we especially hope that the Startup Visa terms known as Invest Visa/Entrepreneur Visa provisions remain as the Senate bill provides. Our regular readers will know our devotion to the topic of the Startup Visa.
Amidst a day of government shutdown news, this is a pleasant and welcome surprise. Stay tuned for more news hopefully tomorrow!