White House recommends improvements to legal immigration system

The White House today released a 48-page report, Modernizing and Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System for the 21st Century, along with an accompanying fact sheet. The report, announced in a blog post titled “Bringing Our Immigration System into the Digital Age,” contains recommendations from the White House to the federal agencies to implement the memorandum issued by President Obama in November 2014.

Key recommendations for the business community include:

• Improving the issuance of employment-based immigrant visa numbers to ensure that the maximum number of available visas is issued each year.
• Implementing the “Known Employer” pilot program to streamline application processes for companies that obtain preapproval of certain requirements.
• Proposing a regulation to modernize and streamline PERM adjudications.
• Clarifying the circumstances under which employers may sponsor certain nonimmigrants, such as F-1 students, for green cards.
• Publishing regulations to clarify and expand protections for employment-based immigrants and nonimmigrants.
• Improving the international arrival process for visitors and immigrants through new technology.
• Updating standards for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program aimed at increasing the program’s integrity.

The report also lays out a plan to improve the overall immigration application and adjudication process by shifting from the current paper-based system to a digital system, as well as recommending improvements to certain categories of humanitarian relief.

BAL continues to evaluate the report and analyze its potential implications for the business community.

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