Two bills focusing on immigration were introduced today in the Senate, the Startup Act and the I-Squared bill. Both are designed to address STEM and high tech needs to encourage high-skilled immigrants remain in the US.
The Start Up Act
Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Mark Warner (D-VA) reintroduced the Startup Act today. The bill, which has been introduced three times before, is a high-skilled immigration plan that aims to encourage startup growth through a series of tax and immigration policy changes. Among other things, the legislation includes STEM visas for US-educated foreign students, makes permanent an exemption of capital gains taxes on the sale of certain startup stock, and eliminates the per-country caps for employment-based immigration visas.
Read more about the legislation here.
I-Squared
A bipartisan group of Senators on January 13 introduced legislation aimed at expanding the ability of high-skilled workers to live and work in the United States. The Immigration Innovation (“I-Squared”) Act of 2015 would increase the number of employment-based nonimmigrant (H-1B) visas and broaden access to green cards for high-skilled workers by expanding exemptions and eliminating the annual per-country limits.
The I-Squared Act includes the following provisions of specific interest to universities:
— Uncapping the existing U.S. advanced degree exemption for H-1B visas (currently limited to 20,000 per year);
— Allowing dual intent for foreign students at U.S. colleges and universities;
— Exempting U.S. STEM advanced degree holders and outstanding professors and researchers from the employment-based green card cap (note: I-Squared uses the Department of Homeland Security definition of qualified STEM fields); and
— Reforming fees on H-1B visas and employment-based green cards and directing the revenue to fund a grant program to promote STEM education and worker retraining to be administered by the states.
The Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor these and other bills related to high-skilled immigration efforts throughout the 114th Congress.