Lamar Smith: “I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding me time, and I also want to thank him for his sponsorship of this…”

“I thank the gentleman from Utah for yielding me time, and I also want to thank him for his sponsorship of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, our immigration system should be designed to benefit Americans and our economy. And this bill introduced by Congressman Chaffetz does just that, and I'm happy to be a cosponsor. The Immigration and Nationality Act generally provides that the total number of family-sponsored and employment-based green cards available to natives of any one country cannot exceed 7 percent of the total number of green cards available each year. Because of these annual numerical caps on green cards and the fact that some countries have more of the skilled workers that American employers want, natives of these countries must often wait years longer for green cards than natives of other countries. For foreign professionals with advanced degrees and aliens of exceptional ability, green cards are now immediately available to approved applicants from most countries. However, because employers seek so many workers from India and China, the per-country caps result in green cards only being available to these individuals who first applied before November 2007, 4 years ago. For foreign professionals with bachelor's degrees and skilled workers, green cards are now available to applicants from most countries who first applied on or before December 2005.…”