Today in #S386 news: a version of the bill may pass the Senate by Unanimous Consent. It is very different from House-passed #HR1044. Both Senate & House would have to agree on language that could be passed again and signed by the President (could be in a COVID relief bill?) 1/x

This version delays the effective date by 2 years, with the thought that current beneficiaries of I-140s from countries other than India & China would have gotten green cards by then. Replaces broader "do no harm" provisions that would have allocated extra visas for them. 2/x

Current version stays with the 9 year transition period, but delays it by 2 years so the complete transition would take about 11 years. In transition, 30% (in yr 1), decreasing gradually to 5% (in yrs 7-9), of immigrant visas would be set aside for "rest of world" immigrants 3/x

Current version keeps the "cap" of 50% workforce on H visas - no new H visas if 50% of US workforce is on H or L visas. Moves up effective date to 180 days after enactment, but exempts from the cap current employees needing extensions 4/x

Current version allows for some "early adjustment" filings, giving beneficiaries ability to change jobs in their field while waiting in the remaining green card backlog, that requires their original I-140 to have been approved for 2 years. 5/x

Current version does not protect the "legal DREAMERs" - H-4 children of workers stuck in the visa backlogs - from "ageing out" before the "early adjustment" filing. 6/x

Current version also has some new LCA and job posting requirements - a 30 day window for new H-1B workers (the cap cases) in which employers must advertise a position to US workers - and a general rule that employers may not advertise positions as only being open to H-1B workers.

There are a number of changes to H-1B practice, increasing employers' compliance burdens and also imposing a first-ever fee to cover the LCA processing and administrative costs (which appears to be limited to the LCA processing and not the investigation of noncompliance) 8/x

It's fair to say that this version is significantly more complicated than the original vision of #HR1044, which simply eliminated the per country cap and included a "do no harm" provision for current beneficiaries. It is no longer the narrow, targeted fix originally proposed. 9/9