Washington — In response to the need for high-skilled immigration, senators introduced the Immigration Innovation (“I-Squared”) Act today. The Computer & Communications Industry Association commends Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) for their leadership in sponsoring this bill.
CCIA has long advocated skilled immigration reform as critical to maintaining and strengthening the global competitiveness of U.S. companies in an increasingly innovative economy, and we strongly supported the previous version of I-Squared that was introduced in the 113th Congress. This new bill again includes such important reforms as: increasing the H-1B visa cap and making it market-flexible; exempting advanced STEM degree holders from both the H-1B and employment-based green card cap; authorizing employment for dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders; exempting dependents of employment-based green card recipients from the cap; and enabling recapture of unused green card numbers from previous years.
The following can be attributed to CCIA President & CEO Ed Black:
“We commend Sen. Hatch and his co-sponsors for their leadership in recognizing the crisis our companies face on this issue, and acting to ensure we have access to the global talent we need to remain the global center of innovation.
“These measures will increase companies’ access to skilled foreign-born workers who have affirmatively shown their belief in the U.S. as the best place to utilize their skills, and will better allow entrepreneurial companies to compete in the global talent marketplace.
“Every year that goes by without addressing the chronic shortage of visas signifies another year of the U.S. economy having to forego the job-creating benefits of having foreign-born talent put their skills to use here. We look forward to swift congressional action on this bipartisan bill.”
Heather Greenfield 202-783-0070 ext 113
hgreenfield@ccianet.org
