Raise act (John Disney/ ALM)

The Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act (S. 1720), introduced in August by Sens. David Perdue, R-Georgia, and Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, would eliminate the immigration system as we know it and replace it with a points-based system. President Donald Trump supports this effort to significantly reduce levels of legal immigration by drastically cutting some family-based categories and substituting the existing employment-based system with a point system. This was one of the major priorities in the president’s election campaign. A companion bill, known as the Immigration in the National Interest Act of 2017 (H.R. 3775), was introduced in the House in September by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. Just how will these changes proposed by the new administration affect Georgia businesses?

Point-based immigration systems are immigration management tools used to score who is eligible to enter the host country. Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand use variations of points systems. The point systems are usually based on a list of characteristics that a country values, such as education, occupation, work experience, language ability and age. After determining all desired characteristics and point values, a country sets the total number of points that a person needs before being allowed to enter the host country. Our current employment-based immigration system allows employers to select the workers they need, subject to some arcane government regulations. For a lot of the employment-based immigrant visas (also referred to as green cards), employers are required to test the market to prove that they cannot find U.S. workers who are willing, able and available to fill the advertised position. The new point system would allocate points based on a combination of factors, including age, education, English language proficiency, extraordinary achievement, a job offer and intention to invest in the United States.

Under the RAISE Act, a maximum of 140,000 immigrant visas would be issued each fiscal year based on the point system. Spouses and minor children of the principal applicant would count against the 140,000 cap, just like under the current system. An individual would be able to apply to be placed in the eligible applicant pool if he or she has accrued 30 points, also referred to as the “pass mark.” Under the Immigration in the National Interest Act, an applicant would have to accrue 20 points. The point distribution prioritizes individuals who are young, educated in the United States, trained in STEM fields, highly-compensated and fluent in English. Both bills would eliminate all family-based immigration categories except for spouses and minor children (under the age of 18) of U.S. citizens and permanent residents.