Speech #1090135524

He may. the law says. also waive the departure requirement if it would create a substantial hardship for the alien to leave. In this legislation. there is a waiver interview requirement. Illegal aliens in the second tier who are required to leave the country can reenter the United States on a visa. but the bill says they do not have to be interviewed. In fact. it doesnt even give discretion to our consular officers around the world to require an interview. I have advocated for inperson interviews since 9/11. especially since the hijackers werent subject to appear in person. Today. the State Department is requiring interviews for most applicants and waives them for certain people. particularly those over 60 years of age. If an adjudicator wants to have an interview before giving a person a visa. they should have the power to do it. Guest workers. under the provisions of this compromise. can become permanent workers. Unlike almost all visas. the H2C visa can be used as an avenue to legal permanent residence and citizenship. The H2C visa was created as a temporary worker program. In fact. the alien. at the time of application. has to prove they did not plan to abandon their residence in the foreign country. However. the visa can be redeemed for legal permanent residence after only 1 year in the United States. H2C workers can selfpetition under this compromise. No other visa program allows an alien to petition for himself or herself to go from temporary worker to seeking citizenship. After 4 years. the alien can sponsor themselves for permanent residence in the United States. We had an amendment to tighten this provision. but the selfpetition measure is still in the bill. Family members of H2C visa holders need not be healthy. Under current law. aliens must prove they are admissible and meet certain health standards. Many times. visa applicants must have a medical exam to show they do not have communicable diseases. They have to be up to date on immunizations and cannot have mental disorders. Spouses and children of H2C visa holders. however. are exempt from this requirement. I have an amendment to fix this provision. The H1B visa cap can increase automatically. The annual cap is increased from 65.000 to 115.000. but it contains an additional builtin escalator. If the cap is reached in 1 year. it can be increased by 20 percent the next year. It cannot be decreased. it can only go up. There will be no serious evaluation of the need for foreign workers. and Congress loses its control over importation of cheaper labor. There are no strings attached in this bill to new student visas. The bill creates a new visa that lowers the bar for foreign students who wish to come here and study math. science. and engineering. They can work off campus while in school. thus taking American jobs. They also can easily adjust from a student to a U.S. worker. They do not have to prove they will return to their home country when applying for the visa. Why would a student come here to study anything if they could be approved instantly without the requirement of the old visa system? Have some people forgotten that the September 11 terrorists came on student visas? Now the USVISIT provision. Congress mandated in 1996 the entryexit system known to us under the acronym of USVISIT.