Senators Claim to have Votes to Increase Guest Worker Visas in time for
St.
Patrick's Day
Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Scott Brown (R-MA) continue to push
legislation granting an additional 10,500 work visas to Irish nationals
in
hopes of passing it in time for St. Patrick's Day, March 17. Sources say
that at least one of them is claiming to have the filibuster proof
majority
necessary to pass the legislation in the Senate. The legislation could
appear on the Senate floor in one of two forms: (1) an amended version
of S.
1983, introduced by Sen. Schumer; or (2) S. 2005, introduced by Sen.
Brown.
Unlike some of Sen. Schumer's proposals, Sen. Brown's bill does not
include an amnesty for illegal aliens of Irish nationality. Nonetheless,
both pieces of legislation have the effect of expanding the E-3 visa
program
to admit at least 10,500 Irish guest workers annually, PLUS an
unlimited
number of visas for spouses and children of E-3 visa holders.
Congress created the E-3 visa program under the 2005 REAL ID Act. It is
exclusively for Australian nationals who seek a nonimmigrant visa to
come to
the U.S. to work in a "specialty occupation." (See Pub. L. No. 109-13
§
501(a)) The current annual cap for E-3 visas is 10,500, and there is no
cap
on the number of derivative visas handed out to the spouses and children
(up
to age 21) of E-3 visa holders. (INA § 214(g)(11)) While touted by
some
as a visa for "high-skilled" workers, the threshold for qualifying for
it is
low. Federal regulations define "specialty occupation" to require only
a
Bachelor's degree — or its equivalent — in a broad variety of fields
ranging from architecture and the social sciences to accounting. (8
C.F.R.
214.2(h)(4)(ii))
Both the amended version of S. 1983 and S. 2005 would allow an
additional 10
,500 E-3 guest worker visas to be given solely to Irish nationals. (INA
§
101(a)(15)(E)(iii); INA § 214(g)(11)) However, rather than holding Irish
nationals to the same "specialty occupation" standard as the
Australians,
these bills would lower the skill standard even further by only
requiring
Irish recipients of the E-3 visa to have just two years of work
experience
in a particular field, OR to have obtained a high school diploma or its
equivalent.
Overall, S. 1983 as amended and S. 2005 represent poor immigration
policy on
several levels. Admitting an additional 10,500 individuals into the
country (even more with an unlimited number of spouses and children)
would
increase immigration — and competition for scarce jobs — at a time when
there are already 13 million unemployed Americans seeking work. Further
exacerbating this problem, the bill lacks a requirement that employers
seek
legal U.S. workers before they can hire an E-3 visa holder and lowers
the
skill-set required to gain entry into the country. Finally, these bills
carve out a special rule for members of a single nationality, creating a
slippery slope in which representatives from every country around the
world
will seek similar preferential treatment.
