by*Chris Musillo

Sen. Grassley (R-IA) has*released his “hold” on HR 3012. HR 3012 has many components to it. It notably calls for an elimination of “per-country” immigrant visa (Green card) caps, which*historically*have limited the amount of employment-based green cards from any one country to seven percent of the total immigrant visa total. These per-country caps have created a longer processing time for those from high visa-demand countries such as India, China, and to some extent, the*Philippines. *These per-country caps are based not on the skill-level of the immigrant, but on the immigrant's country of birth. It seems unlikely that such a policy would ever be passed today. Congress is right to get rid of them.

That having been said,*HR 3012 comes with some warts, mainly as a result of a necessary deal with Sen. Grassley (R-IA), who*passionately*believes that employment-based immigration is bad for America. Sen. Grassley's amendment gives broad, "big-government" power, to the Department of Labor. The DOL will be allowed to delay and deny Labor Condition*Applications*for the vaguest of reasons. Sen. Grassley's expansion of government oversight is intellectually inconsistent for a Senator who just*last week found expansions of government oversight by the Food and Drug Adminsitration*to be "shocking".

With the Senat'es summer recess drawing near, whether HR 3012 moves forward is an open question,*although*still more*likely*to happen than not.There are rumors that several other Senators are concerned with Sen. Grassley's amendment and may delay or deny the bill's passage. This would be a shame because the bill's main purpose, elimination of per-country caps, is an admirable one.

Read the full Healthcare and Immigration Law Blog at*www.musillo.com*or*www.ilw.com*or visit us on*Facebook.