An easy fix for Obama to ease immigration backlog

Last week, President Obama reiterated his plans to take executive action on a range of immigration matters following broad election-day defeat by Democrats in Congress.

I believe the President has a rare opportunity to address many of the cracks in the nation’s immigration system, even if his executive pen won’t allow a comprehensive overhaul in the way Congressional action would.

One place he might start is with approximately 220,000 permanent resident green cards (visas) that went unused between 1992 and 1997 because of low demand, according to Charlie Oppenheim, chief of Visa Control and Reporting with U.S. Department of State, .

In 1990, the current Immigrant and Nationality Act (INA) was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. Total immigration was increased from 500,000 — where it had been set in 1965 — to 700,000. The Act also created new categories for family-based and employment-based green cards and established a brand new category called the diversity visa.

For fiscal year 1992, the slate was wiped clean. There was no backlog of immigrants waiting for green cards to become available. New visa caps were also established and a complex new formula was created, requiring all unused visas from the current fiscal year to be recaptured for use during the subsequent fiscal year. That led to a continuous recirculation, with the number of unused green cards rolling over year after year.

During the 1992-1997 period, before the dot com boom, demand for employment-based visas was low and, as a result, a significant number of visas went unused. Inter-agency communications were not as efficient as they are today which could be one of the reasons why these visas were unused.

Now, I believe the Obama Administration has an opportunity to assign the nearly quarter million unused visas to help address some of the nation’s immigration problems, without depending on a Congress that appears to lack the courage to do so.

How?

Since the law already allows the use of unused visas and there is nothing preventing their rollover, then in my opinion, an executive order for allocating the visa isn’t necessary. What is necessary is an order to decide how those visas might be allocated.

The administration could split the unused visas equally between family-based and employment-based visa seekers, or divide them based on the percentage of total visas each category represents. Or, considering the severe shortage of high-skilled and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) workers affecting many U.S. employers, the administration could assign the visas to those queued up in the system and awaiting employment-based visas.

This could accomplish a few things including huge economic benefits to the country and our region. It could immediately reduce the shortage for skilled workers so that companies such as Microsoft and Amazon with tens of thousands of job openings at any given time, can fill some of those jobs. The economy of Washington state would benefit greatly from this as many employers, especially technology companies, struggle to find qualified skilled workers.

The administration could also allow would-be entrepreneurs currently “in line” and waiting for visas, to start their companies now, creating jobs and helping the local and national economies.

The political gridlock will likely continue to block immigration reform in the near future. For the President, momentum and opportunity like this will not come again soon. Therefore, it is imperative that the president makes as a big an impact as possible. Recapturing unused visas will make such an impact.

Tahmina Watson

Tahmina Watson is an immigration attorney and founder of Watson Immigration Law in Seattle Washington. She was a practicing barrister in London, UK, before immigrating to the United States herself. While her practice includes family-based and employment-based immigration, she has a strong focus on immigrant entrepreneurs and start-up companies. She is a frequent speaker, author, and blogger on immigration law matters. You can reach her at tahmina@watsonimmigrationlaw.com and visit www.watsonimmigrationlaw.com to learn more.