S. 2603, Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families (RELIEF) Act
10/16/19
AILA Doc. No. 19101805.
Business Immigration, Congress, Family Immigration, Family-Based Immigrants
On 10/16/19, Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) introduced S. 2603, Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families (RELIEF) Act. If enacted the RELIEF act would:
- Eliminate the family and employment green card backlog over five years in the order in which applications were filed.
- Classify spouses and children of LPRs as immediate relatives and exempt derivative beneficiaries of employment-based petitions from annual green card limits.
- Protect “aging-out” children who qualify for LPR status based on a parent’s immigration petition.
- Eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrants
- Increase the per-country numerical limitation for family-sponsored immigrants to 15 percent
- Extend the “hold harmless” clause from H.R. 1044 that exempts immigrant visa petitions approved prior to enactment from the lifting of country caps to petitions approved for five years after enactment.
AILA endorses this bill.
Cite as AILA Doc. No. 19101805.