After banning the entry of people from seven Muslim countries, the next impactful step President Donald Trump might take is the cutting down of the legal immigration by half through rationing of green cards. Trump is supporting a bill proposed by two senators has many provisions that can reduce immigration by half.
The proposed bill named The Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment, or Raise Act, has provisions, such as only spouses and minor children of those residing permanently in the USA are eligible to apply for green cards and elimination of the diversity visa lottery that grants visas to 50,000 immigrants.
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This bill if implemented will significantly affect immigrants as each year only 50,000 immigrants will be allowed to live in America as opposed to 1 million. However, this bill leaves H1B visa holders untouched.
The two senators who have come up with this bill are Tom Cotton and David Perdue, and they confirmed to have spoken to the President about the same. Both the senators also confirmed that this bill is not coming out anytime soon. The bill might be put for a Senate vote towards by the end of this year, and it also might require Democratic support to come into force.
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If this bill comes into force, a huge number of Indians are waiting for their green cards on categories based on employment. At present, the waiting time to get a green card is 10 years to 35 years, and this new bill will add more years to this waiting time.