Speech #1010043923

Mr. President. the amendment providing for 30.000 additional visas for business immigrants will be divided equally between the third and sixth preference categories. The third preference category is for members of professions and persons of exceptional ability in the sciences and the arts. The sixth preference category is for skilled workers in short supply. Mr. President. under current law 54.000 visas are provided for in these categories. and Senate bill 358 would raise that number to 55.000 divided equally. an increase of only 1.000. Mr. President. the experience has demonstrated that there is a significant demand for more business visas. More than half of the current 54.000 business visas are used for family dependents. I do not quarrel with that allocation. But the result is that less than 25.000 visas actually go to the workers. Beyond that. Mr. President. the waiting period for the third preference in the exceptional worker category is approximately 1 year. And the waiting period for skilled workers in the sixth category is approximately 3 years. In January of this year. 1989. a State Department report on immigrant visa categories estimated that the current 1989 business immigration demand is approximately 85.000. An increase in the businesssponsored visas. Mr. President. will not affect U.S. workers. The employer of a business immigrant must obtain. according to this amend. ment. Labor Department certification. and according to existing law actuallythat "no qualified U.S. workers are available" for the position to be filled. and employment of the immigrant will not harm the wages and working conditions of other workers in the United States. Therefore. providing additional businesssponsored visas will also not affect the availability of visas for familysponsored immigration which is in a separate immigration category. Mr. President. there can be little doubt that there would be enormous benefit to our country if we were to have an addition of these highly skilled people who are in great demand currently in the United States.