The United States of America has been a haven for job seekers and professionals. Getting a permanent residency visa is a dream of many professionals working here. A new act, EAGLE, has been introduced in the US House of Representatives for many to live the American dream. According to this new legislation, per country cap will be removed for permanent residency visas. The Act will help the Indians to be permanent resident of the country.
US has been a great place for working professionals, especially IT professionals. Many MNCs hire Indians to work in their offices in the US. However, under the presidentship of Donald Trump, the US accepted selective green card application. As the EAGLE Act has been passed, many professionals will get a green card to live in the US.
The Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act of 2021 is a hope for many Indians and Asians who permanently live in the US. The Act will also beneficial for the US economy as they will get talented people working for them. The Act was introduced by Democrat Representative Zoe Lofgren and Republican John Curtis. According to them, “the act is expected to benefit the US economy by allowing American employers to focus on hiring immigrants based on their merit, not their birthplace”. Let’s know more about this Act and its effects on Indians;
What is EAGLE Act 2021?
The full form of the EAGLE Act is the Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment Act. The ACT seeks to remove the country cap of seven per cent assigned to each country to release employment-based immigrant visa. According to the old Act, only seven per cent of professionals from a particular country can get a working visa in the US. The Act put the limitation on the talent to enter the US.
In this new Act, the per-country limit on family-sponsored visas is purposed to be raised from seven per cent to 15 per cent. The removal of the limitation is purposed to implement for a phase of nine years. The old Act was not in favour of largely populated countries like China and India.
The Act will not allow the dominance of these highly populated countries. and that’s why it put in reserve visa for nine years for the countries with lower admission. The Act will also ensure that no country will receive more than 25 per cent of reserved visa in these nine years. More than 85 per cent of unreserved visas will also not be granted to any one country for nine years. Now let’s understand why the Act was required in a developed country like the US;
Why is EAGLE Act Required?
Former US President Donald Trump put any restriction on immigrants and offer them a green card. During his presidency, most Asians and immigrant from other countries did not have a safe and secure job in the US. It leads the US to a situation where the country has a lack of talent. Countries like India and China have a good amount of talent, but people from these countries could not get entry into the US due to the country cap. Now when the visa is based on talent, the professionals will get its direct benefit.
The statement from Curtis and Lofgren clarifies the air with the following statement, “A person from a large-population country with extraordinary qualifications who could contribute greatly to our economy and create jobs waits behind a person with lesser qualifications from a smaller country”. The Act also seeks to ‘de-emphasize birthplace’ and prioritize the talent and eligibility of the professional.
How will the Act help Indians Professionals?
Many Indians prefer to live in the US as it’s a developed country with all the big companies from all the sectors. The job opportunities and good salary with all the facilities offered by the US government attract people from all over the world, and Indians are no exceptions.
Indians are the second-largest immigrants in the US, as the Mexicans are in the first position. The Act will help more Indians to come to the US to have a career in the country and get the green card.
India is the second most populated country globally, and the US has a large portion of working visa from Indians. The backlog of working visa is too huge that the workers are to wait for longer than usual. According to the Cato Institute reports, “Backlogged Indian workers face an impossible wait of nine decades if they all could remain in the line. In addition, more than 200,000 petitions filed for Indians could expire as a result of the workers dying of old age before they receive green cards.” So the Act will help the Indians as there will not be any cap of seven per cent.
The Final Word
The EAGLE Act 2021 will surely help job seekers, and the US will also get some talented people on board. It will be more beneficial for the countries like India, but the authorities in the US will have to face the challenges to control the dominance of highly populated countries.
