May 2013

The American Immigration Council reported that with the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote last week to pass S.744 on to the Senate floor, a new proposal for spurring immigrant entrepreneurship and innovation will be before Congress. Title IV, Subtitle H of the bill creates the INVEST...

The American Immigration Council reported that after three weeks and hours of debate over five days, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved S. 744, the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act,” on a bipartisan 13-5 vote, with GOP Senators Lindsey Graham (SC), Orrin Hatch...

CNN reported that the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" immigration reform bill on Tuesday, sending the measure to the Senate floor for consideration and giving the bill's backers their first major legislative victory. Members of the Democratic-controlled panel voted 13-5 in favor...

The American Immigration Council reported that one of the explicit goals of the “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act’’ (S.744) is to curtail future flows of unauthorized immigration by correcting some of the flaws of the current legal immigration system. To that end,...

The Washington Post reported that Senators behind a sweeping immigration reform bill managed to defend their fragile compromise on Tuesday from a seige of amendments to expand or restrict a visa program for highly skilled workers beyond what was initially proposed in the legislation. The discussions...

Now that USCIS has completed the H-1B lottery, many F-1 students who filed H-1B petitions and were accepted as part of the lottery are eligible for cap-gap extension coverage. The cap-gap provision automatically extends until October 1, F-1 status and employment authorization for F-1 students...

On 05/09/13 the Senate Judiciary Committee began markup on s. 744 and completed debate on Sections 1-8 (mainly dealing with the trigger for legalization) and Title I (border security). This page provides a summary of the committee debate and initial Senator statements. A total of...

CNN reported that a top Senate Democrat has offered a pair of amendments to an immigration reform bill bolstering rights for same-sex couples, a politically risky move that threatens to shatter Republican support for the sweeping legislation. Vermont Sen. Patrick's Leahy's amendments would recognize same-sex marriages...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminded employers that beginning today they must use the revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (Revision 03/08/13)N for all new hires and reverifications. All employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each employee hired to...