Maka Hutson and Michelle Reed Author Texas Lawyer Article on Congressional Proposals for Green Card Reform
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Texas Lawyer has published the article “Green Cards for Professional Employees: Competing Proposals for Reform in Congress,” written by Akin Gump international trade counsel Maka Hutson and litigation partner Michelle Reed. The article looks at two different legislative options in Congress to reform the green card system.
The authors write that the first proposal, the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act, would eliminate “the per-country quotas in employment-based green card categories.” The second, the Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families Act, would also eliminate the per-country quotas for employment-based immigrants, but would also “increase the number of available green cards by exempting immediate family members from annual green card limits.”
According to Hutson and Reed, the COVID-19 pandemic “will likely make it challenging for Congress to reach compromise on a bill that could be perceived as undercutting opportunities for unemployed U.S. citizens.” As a result, they say, businesses that rely heavily on foreign employees for specialized labor “may be left in the same unsustainable situation as before, perhaps for many years to come.”
To read the article in its entirety, please click here.
