On July 10th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1044, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019. The bill removes the per-country caps for employment-based visas, including EB-5. While the bill passed the House, it still needs to pass in the U.S. Senate and be signed by the President to become law.
The Senate’s companion bill, S.386, was recently “hot lined,” meaning the bill was quickly sent around to all the Senate offices for review. According to Senate protocol, if no Senator has any issues with a hot lined bill is may pass with unanimous consent. However, any senator can stop the process for any reason.
Accordingly, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) placed “a hold” on the Senate’s per-country-cap measure. Until Senator Paul is persuaded to lift his hold, the bill cannot move forward.
We are closely monitoring these bills and will provide updates as they become available.
