Immigration Provisions in the America COMPETES Act

The House of Representatives could vote as soon as next week on the America COMPETES Act, H.R. 4521. While the legislation’s main purpose is to generate investment in American innovation, it includes a number of troubling immigration provisions that would add thousands of new green cards each year on top of already historically high levels.

Here’s a summary of the America COMPETES Act immigration provisions:

• The creation of a W nonimmigrant visa program for foreign investors of start-ups and entrepreneurs, their families, and “essential” foreign workers who work for them. Family members are eligible to receive work permits.
• A one-year path to an unlimited number of green cards for any W visa holder who meet certain investment and ownership stake requirements.
• An unlimited number of green cards for foreign citizens who hold a doctoral degree from a U.S. institution of higher learning -OR- an equivalent degree from a foreign university.
• A 5-year program that creates a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) for Hong Kong residents. The program would be capped at 5,000 per year, amounting to an additional 25,000 green cards over a 5-year period.
• Authorization for unlimited refugee/asylee status for certain Hong Kong residents.
• A change in existing law to treat Hong Kong as a separate state from China in determining per-country limits for existing green card categories.
• TPS for Hong Kong residents currently in the U.S., regardless of immigration status.

For full details on the bill’s immigration provisions, click here.