Congress Passes New H-1B Bill!

• Complete text of the new H-1B bill in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format
• President Clinton's Statement on signing new H-1B law
• Frequently asked questions about the new H-1B bill

On October 17, 2000, former President Clinton signed a new immigration law called the "American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act," known as "AC21," and it is now in force. This bill was strongly supported by the high-tech industry in the United States. It has many important features which should help skilled workers enter the United States and stay in the United States during Green Card processing. These features include:

• A big increase in the number of visas available every year, from 107,500 to 195,000. Plus pending cases from fiscal year 2000 will be counted in the 2000 quota, so 195,000 new visas are immediately available for fiscal years 2001 to 2003. Also, no one who has held H status during the last six years will be counted towards the cap. As a result, there should be plenty of new visas for first-time H-1B applicants, such as students, TN's, and persons coming from overseas.
• The filing fee has increased  to $1,130, with several exceptions including universities, teaching hospitals, and second and subsequent extensions for the same employer (for the exceptions, the fee is $130).
• Current H-1B workers who have been offered new H-1B jobs can begin work for the new employer as soon as the new petition is filed. This is known as "H-1B portability." There are three requirements: (1) previous H-1B status, (2) lawful entry, (3) no unlawful employment since the last entry.
• Under current law, there is a 7% per-country limitation on immigrant visas. This is why there has been such a long waiting period for Chinese and Indian immigrants in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories. The new law does not eliminate the per-country limit. However, it will make all UNUSED immigrant visas allocated to other countries available to Chinese and Indian immigrants. There are many such unused visas. As of July 1, 2001, all employment categories became current as a result of these new visas.
• The new bill allows H-1B's who have used up their six years in the U.S. to STAY in the U.S. and work if one year has gone by since they started the Green Card process by filing a labor certification or I-140; or (2) they have an approved I-140, and they are waiting for their priority date to become current (i.e., Indian and Chinese). Since all categories are now current, the second option does not now apply.
• Finally, the new law says that a person who has filed for adjustment of status, and has not gotten a Green Card after six months, can change jobs without giving up the Green Card. This is now being called "I-485 portability." The new job must be in the "same or similar" occupation as the old one. This provision would also allow a person to start working in the same job in a different city, and still get a Green Card.