RELIEF ACT - The Boldest Immigration Proposal in Recent Years

Once a while, you do get a nice surprise while browsing through the myriad of daily emails, news updates, briefings, etc.  The surprise came yesterday when I was reading the new RELIEF ACT (S. 2603) drafted by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.  The proposed law - Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families Act - is one of the boldest immigration proposal that any legislator has put on the table in recent years.  

Senator Durbin was actually the lobbying target during the last few weeks regarding another pending Senate Bill S. 386, which eliminates the per-country cap for employment-based immigration visa categories.  Senator Durbin single-handedly held up the unanimous Senate consent vote on S. 386, thus blocking its passage in September.  A few weeks later, Senator Durbin came up with a bill - if passed - that can actually solve the longstanding problem of immigrant visa backlog. 

The RELIEF ACT proposes the following changes in the immigrant visa system:

• Stop counting the children and spouses of legal permanent residents against the immigrant visa cap. This is to be achieved by counting the children and spouses as "immediate relatives", like with petitions by citizens, and not subjecting derivative beneficiaries to the annual visa cap for employment-based petitions. This would free up many visa numbers that are counted toward the annual visa quota.

• Put protection in place for children who "age out" of their category while waiting for visas to become available. The backlogs mean many visa applicants must wait for years to get their green card. This has proved problematic for their children, who can reach 21 years-old before then and become ineligible as derivative beneficiaries.

• Get rid of country caps for immigrant visas, as proposed in H.R. 1044. Durbin also proposes to extend the "hold harmless" clause from H.R. 1044. This would mean continuing to distribute visas in their current order to those who have approved immigration petitions for a five-year period after enactment.

• Eliminates the current backlogs of immigrant visa cases.  Most strikingly, RELIEF ACT plans to eliminate the current backlogs of family-based and employment-based immigrant visa petitions over a five-year period.  Although not explicitly stated in the Act, this would mean temporary increases in the number of available immigrant visa numbers. 

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Durbin's ambitious proposal strikes at the core of the immigrant visa backlog issue. Whether we will get to observe its effects on the backlog depends on how it fares in the legislative process. Past bills have proposed similar changes but did not make it through Congress. Even if it passes in the House and Senate, there is still a strong possibility of President Trump vetoing it. His immigration policy has been one of enforcement rather than relaxation. We must wait and see if the bill passes.  However, at least for now, the bill offers a glimpse of hope for many visa applicants.