This Issue: America COMPETES Act would add thousands of additional green cards each year

In what is looking to be our first big battle of the new year, we've just learned that the House of Representatives is gearing up to vote on legislation that would add tens of thousands, if not more than 100,000, new additional green cards each year above current and historically high levels.

The legislation, the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 4521), includes an increase of skilled and investor green cards, along with unlimited priority refugee and asylum status for certain Hong Kong residents. Additionally, the legislation would offer Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to more than 100,000 Hong Kong residents currently in the United States.

Here's a summary of the legislation's major 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 would be eligible for a work permit.
• A one-year path to an unlimited number of green cards for any W visa holder who meets 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 new program is capped at 5,000 per year, amounting to an additional 25,000 green cards over a 5-year period.
• Authorization for an unlimited refugee/asylee program 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.

Timeline for the American COMPETES Act

While the House was out this week, the House Rules Committee did post the current version of the America COMPETES Act with a deadline of today to submit amendments for consideration. This likely means that a vote could occur as early as next week. We'll know more about the timing when the House's schedule for next week is released later today.

The Senate has already passed similar legislation -- the United States Innovation and Competition Act (S.2160). The Senate bill does NOT include any immigration provisions, focusing more on investment for American innovation. Should the House pass the America COMPETES Act, the two chambers would go to a conference committee to work out the differences between the two versions.

But the bill passing in the House is not a slam dunk, even though Speaker Pelosi and Democratic leadership stand strongly behind it. Last year, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation that's more in line with the Senate bill. House Republicans are likely to oppose the America COMPETES Act in favor of last year's action. And House Democrats are not completely on board with the more ambitious and broad America COMPETES Act. Beginning today, we are mobilizing our activist systems to do our part to push back against the immigration provisions included in the legislation.

Please be on the lookout for alerts early next week, urging you to phone and message your U.S. Representatives and asking them to oppose the America COMPETES Act, H.R. 4521.

CHRIS Chmielenski NumbersUSA Deputy Director