Calls For Advanced Adjustment of Status and Green Card Recapture in Reconciliation Bill.

NOVEMBER 3, 2021.

Dear Senators Durbin and Padilla and Representatives Nadler and Lofgren, On behalf of the undersigned immigration advocacy organizations, think tanks, and civil society groups representing a broad spectrum of constituents and stakeholders, we write to you strongly encouraging the
inclusion of green card recapture and advanced adjustment of status provisions passed by the House Judiciary Committee in the budget reconciliation bill undergoing current negotiations.

We strongly support providing permanent status for undocumented community members, including Dreamers, Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, essential workers, and farmworkers. We implore you in the strongest terms to try every available possibility to advance the protection of these vulnerable people and deserving populations. But we also urge you to simultaneously support the inclusion of reforms to our existing immigration system in the reconciliation bill.
Through reconciliation, Democrats have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernize the existing U.S. immigration system, reunite millions of families separated through immigration restrictions and backlogs, increase U.S. GDP by trillions of dollars, and provide immigration relief for millions of foreign nationals. Presently, there are over 4 million immigrants in the family-based backlog and over 1 million individuals currently stuck in the employment-based backlog.
Analysis by the Niskanen Center finds that the visa-related immigration provisions included in the House budget reconciliation package would recover about 1 million previously available immigrant visa numbers; offer an early opportunity to adjust status to millions more who are stuck in the backlogs; add $4 trillion to the U.S. GDP over ten years; and add hundreds of billion dollars in revenue to state, local, and federal government.

Recapturing green cards will allow the U.S. to allocate more than one million green cards already authorized by Congress that have gone unused since 1992 due to administrative error and inefficiency.
The ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic has significantly exacerbated the visa backlogs and drastically curtailed visa issuance. Provisions in the House reconciliation bill would provide an exemption from annual and per-country limitations upon the payment of a supplemental fee, allowing those with an approved immigrant visa petition who have been in line for two or more years to become permanent residents more rapidly.

These changes promise to improve the immigration process by ensuring that there are opportunities for those who currently must wait years — even decades — after their petition for a green card has been approved. Even those who don’t choose to pay for early filing or a cap exemption will benefit from reduced backlogs and waiting times, and the supplemental fees collected will help U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to handle its workload more efficiently.

Recapture alone would provide more than half a million green cards to individuals and families who have already built lives in the U.S. and those whose rights are restricted by the terms of their temporary visas, including their legal status being tied to a specific employer. Provisions in the House reconciliation bill would also guarantee work authorization to those individuals’ spouses and children, while also preventing their children, who have grown up in the U.S., from becoming undocumented when they turn 21 years of age.

As we continue to fight for legalization, these provisions will prevent more people from losing status and may also help existing Dreamers, essential workers, and TPS/DED recipients who are beneficiaries of approved immigrant visa petitions. Further, they could help millions stranded overseas in the backlog, allowing families separated for years by U.S. immigration policies to be reunited.

Neither of the House bill’s visa-related changes affect criteria for admissibility or eligibility for legal status. These reforms do not “clear the way to LPR status” for anybody without a way to get there under existing law. Instead, they only affect the timeline of adjustment (and will generate additional revenue collected through fees) without changing eligibility criteria.
Across the board, administrative errors and inefficiencies continue to waste valuable economic inputs, put careers on hold, keep families separated, and force others to give up on the American dream. Together, the visa-related provisions discussed above would be a significant victory for immigrant communities across the country and will help to ensure a more fair and efficient immigration system.

Thank you for your consideration and commitment to advance immigration reform in the budget reconciliation process.
Sincerely,

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