A bill has been introduced in Congress which involves utilizing 380,000 unused family and employment-based visas to reduce the massive green card backlog, affecting the statuses of immigrations from China and India. The Jumpstart our Legal Immigration System Act has planned to utilize 222,000 unused family-sponsored visas and 157,000 employment-based visas. Utilizing these visas will help immigrants to contribute to the nation’s economy and will allow U.S. companies to hire highly skilled workers.
The bill allows U.S. residents to be eligible for Legal Permanent Residence (LPR) status. It will help individuals to receive work authorization while waiting for an available visa number and will prevent dependent children from being excluded from the eligibility for LPR status. If the immigrant visa petition gets approved two years after they pay a supplemental fee, immigrants who are in the U.S will be able to receive an exemption from immigrant visa numerical limits and have the ability to adjust their immigration status to a green card. This legislation will help thousands of families to enter the U.S. by solving the issue of the visa backlog.