U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Larry Bucshon, M.D. (R-IN) introduced the Eliminating Backlogs Act of 2023 to continue overhauling the U.S. immigration system.
The bill seeks to quickly break through growing piles of work visas, granting more flexibility for the use of existing visas while also guaranteeing the employment-based visa system currently allocated annually is being used properly. The number of foreign nationals with specific skills and training allowed to come to the United States for work – through the visa program – is set by Congress each year.
“Even as our country’s high-skilled immigration system helps us draw top talent from around the world, current law caps the number of employment-based visas available based on workers’ country of origin, leaving thousands of visas that would otherwise help our economy unused,” Krishnamoorthi said. “I’m proud to partner with Congressman Bucshon on this legislation to end country-based discrimination in high-skilled immigration to ensure we use every allotted visa to draw skilled workers from across the globe to help strengthen our economy and create jobs while we also continue to invest in our domestic workforce.”
Part of the issue is that while there is an overall cap for visas, each nation is also capped to receive only 7 percent of the allotted employment-based slots each year. Essentially: caps within caps. Coupled with bureaucratic delays, the congressmen noted that around 9,100 employment-based visas went unused in fiscal year 2020 – a figure that leaped to more than 66,000 in 2021.
“I am proud to work with my colleague, Rep. Krishnamoorthi, to put forward a bill to help eliminate this backlog and ensure that visas allocated under existing federal immigration law can be properly used,” Bucshon said. “This will help support an immigration system that incentivizes and rewards legal applicants and boosts our economy.”
According to Bucshon, the current system has prevented thousands of visas from being utilized, despite a serious need for more skilled workers in many areas, exacerbating existing problems.