US Immigration News

During the early months of 2013, while Republicans and Democrats in Congress were negotiating ways to deal with the US budget deficit, some US commentators were wondering what would happen if they failed to reach an agreement. Now they have failed and, on March 1st, President Obama signed a Presidential Order cutting $85bn from the US federal budget in the next seven months.

On Friday 1st March 2013, President Obama ordered swingeing cuts in US public spending after Congress failed yet again to agree a deal on public spending. The President's order will cut $85bn from the federal budget in the next seven months. The cuts have already hit the US's policing of immigration and further disruption is likely.

Two new bills have been introduced in the US Congress this year which would make it compulsory for employers to use the E-Verify system before taking on new employees. E-Verify is a system that enables US employers to check that a prospective employee is eligible to work in the US.

Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate, returned to his home state of Arizona this week for a series of meetings about immigration with his constituents.

Mr McCain is a member of a species that was very rare in Washington until the last US presidential election, a Republican in favour of immigration reform. Now, there are many more Republican voices speaking out for reform in the US capital but in Arizona, as Mr McCain found out on Tuesday, Republicans and immigration reform are still an explosive combination.

Each fiscal year, the US issues 65,000 H-1B visas to employ foreign-born workers in graduate level 'specialty occupations' in the US. A further 20,000 H-1Bs are reserved for foreign nationals who have a higher degree (such as a master's) from a US university. The employer must file visa petitions with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Republicans in the US Congress have been upset by the revelation that the White House is working on a draft immigration reform bill. Republican senator Marco Rubio has issued a statement which reads 'it is a mistake for the White House to draft immigration legislation without seeking input from Republican members of Congress. If actually proposed, the President's bill would be dead in the water'.