Immigration Bills

H.R. 4885, the Comprehensive Immigration Fairness Act, would create an amnesty for illegal aliens who have been physically present in the U.S. for five years and have never been convicted of a criminal offense. In addition to this general amnesty, it would include special amnesties for Haitians and Liberians. The bill would also increase annual admissions of refugee and aslyees by allowing refugee/asylee status for certain adult unmarried children of refugees and asylees and would establish gender based persecution as grounds for refugee status.

H.R.

H.R. 4166, the American Workforce Improvement and Jobs Protection Act, would exempt from the annual H-1B cap aliens holding a Master's degree or higher, up to 20,000. However, the bill would have reinstated tougher employer attestation requirements, a $1,000 application fee, and Labor Department investigative authorities, that expired in the fall of 2003.

S. 2252, the Save Summer Act, would increase by 40,000 the annual cap for 2004 on H-2B visas for low-kill, temporary foreign workers.

H.R. 4041 would remove the numerical cap on H-2B visas for 2004.