Legal Immigration Policy and Trends

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Legal Immigration Policy and Trends

• Ruth Ellen Wasem
• Specialist in Immigration Policy
• Congressional Research Service
• October 19, 2005

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Outline of Presentation

• Overview of U.S. Immigration Policy
• Permanent Admissions
• Principles
• Numerical Limits
• Categories
• Admissions Trends
• Temporary Admissions
• Visa Categories
• Admissions
• Employment-based Trends
• Concluding Remarks

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General Groupings of Foreign Born Residents

• Noncitizens
• Legal permanent resident aliens
• Nonimmigrant (temporary) alien residents
• Unauthorized aliens
• Naturalized citizens

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Principles of Legal Permanent Immigration

• Family Reunification
• Needed Economic Skills
• Humanitarian Concerns
• Country of Origin Diversity

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Grounds for Exclusion

• Criminal history
• National security
• Public charge (e.g., indigence)
• Health-related
• Seeking to work without proper labor
  certification
• Illegal entrants and immigration law violations
• Ineligible for citizenship
• Previously removed (i.e., deported)

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Numerical Limits on Legal Immigration
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Figure 1. Trends in Permanent Status Adjustments
and Arrivals
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Figure 2. Legal Permanent Residents by Category,
FY2004
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Permanent Family-Based Immigration

• Immediate relatives -- spouses and unmarried
  minor children of U.S. citizens and the parents
  of adult U.S. citizens
• 1st preference -- unmarried sons and daughters of
  citizens
• 2nd preference -- spouses and children of LPRs
  unmarried sons and daughters of LPRs
• 3rd preference -- married sons and daughters of
  citizens
• 4th preference -- siblings of citizens age 21 and
  over

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Figure 3. Trends in Permanent Family-Based
Immigration
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Permanent Employment-Based Immigration

• 1st preference -- persons of extraordinary
  ability in the arts, science, education,
  business, or athletics outstanding professors
  and researchers and multinational executives and
  managers
• 2nd preference -- members of the professions
  holding advanced degrees or persons of
  exceptional abilities in the sciences, art, or
  business
• 3rd preference -- skilled shortage workers with
  at least 2 years training or experience,
  professionals with baccalaureate degrees and up
  to 10,000 unskilled shortage workers
• Also provides for special immigrants investors

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Figure 4. Trends in Permanent Employment-Based
Immigration
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Figure 5. Trends in New Arrivals and Adjustments
of Status
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Nonimmigrant (Temporary) Admissions

• Aliens who are admitted to the U.S. for a
  temporary period and an expressed purpose
• 24 major nonimmigrant visa categories and 72
  specific types of nonimmigrant visas
• Commonly referred to by their subsection in INA,
  e.g., B-2 tourists, E-2 treaty investors, or F-1
  foreign students
• Most are required to prove that they are not
  coming to live permanently(214(b) INA)

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Figure 6. Nonimmigrants by Visa Category, FY2004
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Employment-Based Temporary Visas

• Cultural Exchange
• Multinational Executives and International
  Investors
• Temporary Workers
• Crewmen
• Outstanding Artists, Athletes, Performers

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Figure 7. Trends in Temporary Employment-Based
Immigration
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H-1B Professional Specialty Workers

• Dual intent (may have LPR petition pending)
• Labor attestation
• Current limit of 65,000 annually
• Renewable for up to 6 years

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H-2A Agricultural Workers

• Seasonal or temporary agricultural work
• Labor certification
• Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR)
• Housing and other benefits
• Maximum stay of 3 years
• No numerical limits

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H-2B Non-agricultural Workers

• Labor certification
• Temporary need for workers
• Prevailing wage rate
• Maximum stay of 3 years
• Limit of 66,000 annually

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Avenues for Adjusting to Permanent Resident Status
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Towards a More Effective Immigration Policy
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Concluding Remarks

• Immigration policy develops in broader contexts
• Anti-terrorism
• Labor force needs
• Family values
• Immigration policy weighs balance of concerns
• National security
• Economic considerations
• Humanitarian concerns
• Immigration policy faces competing priorities