SKIL Bill

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A series of articles on

The U.S. Immigration Debate
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Illegal immigration
Trafficking in human beings
Labor shortage
Terrorism
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Proposed solutions

DREAM Act
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H.R. 4437 (December 2005)
S. 2611 (May 2006)
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SKILL(2006)
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IRCA(1986)
IIRIRA (1996)
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S. 2691/ H. R. 5744, also known as the “Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership Act of 2006”, or the “SKIL Bill” from its acronym and rhyme, is targeted at increasing legal immigration of scientific, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers into the United States by increasing the quotas on the H-1B visa, eliminating green card caps for certain advanced degree holders, and streamlining the processing of employment-based green cards. A summary of changes to each of these is:

H-1B Visa: The bill increases the annual cap of 65,000 immigrants to 115,000, automatically increasing the cap by 20 percent each year the limit is reached. It also creates a new exemption to the cap for anyone who has an "advanced degree in science, technology, engineering, or math" from a foreign university.

Green Card Caps: Sponsored by their employers, workers who earned advanced degrees from accredited U.S. universities will be exempt from the numerical limit.

Streamlining Green Card Processing: The bill establishes a pre-certification procedure that is designed to eliminate duplicate documentation of the employer that is common to multiple petitions. It also provides employers with an option to expedited processing of such visa petitions.

Contents

[edit] Current Status

As of November 2006, the SKIL Bill exists as standalone legislation in both the House (H.R.5744) and Senate (S. 2691). It is also embedded in the Senate Comprehensive immigration bill (S. 2611). All versions of this bill are substantially identical and originated from Senator Cornyn’s legislation.

For the SKIL bill to become law, one of the following two events must occur, along with a signature from the President.

  1. one The House would have to pass the Senate's Comprehensive Immigration Bill (S. 2611),
  2. two Both the House version (H.R. 5744) and the Senate version (S. 2691) would have to be approved by Congress.


[edit] “Pro” Analysis

Proponents of the claim that the most intelligent workers in the world come here to be educated and then end up taking their knowledge and skills with them back to their home countries. They claim that there are not enough skilled workers to fulfill requirements and that a severe shortage looms, threatening US leadership in technical fields. Industry claims their gain is access to a larger skilled workforce. Academia maintains a larger pool of potential students in technical fields.

[edit] “Con” Analysis

Opponents claim that industry is primarily motivated by desire for lower wages. They make the point that if there were a shortage of skilled workers, real wages would be up and unemployment would be down, neither of which is the case.

Opponents also claim that this bill would cause an unprecedented flooding of the labor market, as skilled Americans and residents would be displaced in their jobs by immigrants from the developing world who are willing to work at below-market wages in return for permanent residence or US citizenship.

Opponents also point out that the unemployment rate in engineers with degrees over 45 years old might be as high as 80% based on informal phone surveys. The average length of unemployment mentioned in the phone survey was 3 years of unemployment. Discouraged workers (out of work more than 6 months) are not tracked by the department of labor.

[edit] History

April 7, 2006
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611) was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA). At this time S. 2611 didn't contain increases to H-1B but it did introduce a guest worker program for unskilled workers.

May 2, 2006
The “Securing Knowledge, Innovation, and Leadership Act of 2006 or the “SKIL Act of 2006 (S. 2691) was sponsored in the Senate by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). The Senate never voted on the SKIL Bill but it was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, chaired by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA).

May 25, 2006
The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611) was amended to include the SKIL Bill in what was called the "Manager's Amendment to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006" The SKIL Act was inserted into Subtitle B within S. 2611.

June 6, 2006
The Senate passed S. 2611 by a 62-36 vote.

June 29, 2006
The “Securing Knowledge, Innovation, and Leadership Act of 2006 or the “SKIL Act of 2006 (H.R. 5744) was introduced in the House by Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ).

[edit] References

SKIL Bill information at Thomas.gov (click "Bills, Resolutions," then click "Search Advanced Bill Summary and Status," enter SKIL as the search term)

[edit] See Also

[edit] “Pro” External Links for SKIL Bill Information

[edit] “Con” External Links for SKIL Bill Information

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