Impending Changes to the Employment-Based Permanent Residence System
On November 20, 2015, President Obama announced a whole slew of changes his administration plans to make to the immigration system. The program he announced for certain undocumented parents of U.S. citizens attracted most of the attention, and lawsuits, and remains on hold. But the Administration is taking steps forward on its initiation to modernize the employment-based permanent residence process. The federal government asked for input on ways to modernize the system back in December 2014. The system is widely acknowledged to be broken, as employers and workers alike are frustrated by how many hoops they must jump through, how many limitations are placed in family members of work visa holders, and how long the process takes. The broken system is placing the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage. Now that public comment has been received, on Friday, May 22, 2015, USCIS added a new modernization item to its Regulatory Agenda.
What are the specific changes expected from “modernization”?
Specifically, the modernization efforts will be to:
- allow certain approved Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (Form I-140) beneficiaries to obtain work authorization,
- clarify the meaning of portable work authorization, and
- remove unnecessary restrictions on the ability to change jobs or progress in careers,
- as well as provide relief to workers facing lengthy adjustment delays.
When will these changes take effect?
This is not a proposed rule yet, and so we cannot expect changes to take effect in the immediate future, but the government is signaling changes are on the horizon, and they are working on it. The Regulatory Agenda document published last week proposes to amend the immigration regulations surrounding employment-based permanent residence in approximately October 2015.