Monday, December 10, 2012

STEM Act Approved by the House of Representatives

On Friday November 30, the House of Representatives approved the STEM Jobs Act, which would create 55,000 green cards annually for foreign students who receive graduate science, technology, engineering or math degrees in U.S. universities. This measure would aid the economy by keeping talented workers in the United States, and it would enable spouses and children of these graduates to obtain their green cards after one year. However, although most people support the concept, Congress remains divided on the issue because, in order to create these special visas for skilled workers, House members voted to eliminate the Diversity Visa Lottery Program and set up the STEM Act in its place.


The Diversity Visa Lottery Program set green cards aside for countries with low immigration to the United States, created in 1990 in response to immigration policies that were biased toward people with family already in the U.S. or toward those who filled specific immigration needs. Critics of the program claim that it is vulnerable to fraud because of the difficulty of conducting background checks in some countries. Supporters, however, claim that without it, the country would be dominated by immigrants from only a handful of countries, primarily India, China, Mexico, and the U.K. They argue that lawmakers should not have to choose between the two programs, pointing out that both are valuable.

The White House, in a statement opposing the bill, stated that while it was “ready to begin serious debate on the need to fix our broken immigration system,” the administration refused to support “narrowly-tailored proposals” that did not lead to comprehensive immigration reform.

The bill moves to the Senate for voting next.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/30/stem-act-passage-immigration_n_2219248.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

1 comment:

  1. If all countries will have a information sharing like this, there will be no problem or issues regarding migration system.


    Australia Skilled Immigration

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