As the debate over illegal immigration wages on south of the border with a focus on building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, two U.S. Republican senators have just introduced a bill that tackles legal immigration.
On Tuesday, Sens. Tom Cotton and David Perdue proposed the “Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment Act” (RAISE Act), which would curb the number of legal immigrants entering the United States. The senators argued that bringing in newcomers from other countries has contributed to declining wages and poor job growth in the U.S., particularly among those without a higher education.
The RAISE Act would restrict legal immigration using three primary approaches:
1) It would cut the number of green cards issued in half, from one million to 500,000 annually
2) It would limit the number of family-sponsored visas, to spouses and unmarried minor children of citizens and permanent residents, as opposed to the current law that issues visas to citizens’ parents and siblings, as well as unmarried and married children over the age 21 and their immediate families.
3) The act would eliminate the visa lottery, which grants visas to 50,000 immigrants annually from countries with low immigration rates to the U.S. Additionally, the number of visas for refugees would be capped at 50,000.
What does it mean for Canadians?
Canadian immigration lawyer Joel Sandaluk told CTV’s Your Morning that Canadians hoping to obtain a green card to the U.S. would see their chances halved if the RAISE Act succeeds.
“One of the realities of our country is that there’s a massive movement of labour between Canada and the United States,” Sandaluk explained on Wednesday. “Limiting the programs will have the effect of making Canadian options for moving to the United States much more limited than they have been in the past.”
Although it may seem like the RAISE Act will become a major headache for Canadians who regularly work and travel in the United States, Sandaluk said there is a silver lining at home, referencing the H1-B visa targeted by Republicans.
The non-immigrant visa, which allows U.S. companies to recruit foreign professionals to work in the country for an allotted time period, is particularly popular in the technology industry on the West Coast. Sandaluk said companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon rely on the H1-B visa program for foreign talent.
“The limitation of that type of work visa in the United States will force a lot of those companies to relocate to Canada where unlike a lot of programs in the United States there is a pathway to permanent status here that doesn’t exist there,” Sandaluk said.
The immigration lawyer called the RAISE ACT a “huge opportunity” for Canadian businesses to grow, especially in the technology field. Sandaluk said he thinks the Canadian government should take advantage of this closed-off attitude on foreign workers in the U.S.
“My recommendation would be to court American businesses right now, to create programs to facilitate the movement of jobs from the United States into Canada by designing programs that are appealing to employers,” Sandaluk advised.
Sandaluk said it’s difficult to know what will happen with the proposed RAISE Act in the courts and in congress and that the Canadian government will have to be prepared for a nimble response if the bill is passed.
