Davids supports bill to ease visa backlog, help Kansas businesses

Rep. Sharice Davids (KS-03) has co-sponsored the "Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act," a bipartisan bill sponsored in the last Congress by her predecessor that would help ease green card backlogs for those facing the longest wait times and help businesses in the Kansas third district retain the high-skilled staff they need to be competitive and grow the local economy.

"After conversations with folks from Kansas, I decided to back this bipartisan bill that will help businesses in our district thrive and boost our economy," said Davids. "This backlog, along with the backlog of other kinds of visas that local industries count on like our agriculture sector, just underscore the need for bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform to fix our broken system. I hope this bill will be part of a larger, holistic fix."

The employment-based green card system provides permanent residence to individuals who are important to our economy. This bill creates a fair and equitable "first come, first serve" system under which U.S. companies will be able to focus on what they do best—hiring people with the right skills to create products, services, and jobs.

About 95 percent of employment-based green card applicants already live and work in the U.S. on temporary visas. Because of the per-country limits, however, some people are forced to stay on their temporary visas for many years, if not decades. The bill helps even out the green card lines, preventing excessive backlogs for some.

The bill is identical to last year's version with an additional provision to prevent harm to anyone who is already waiting for a green card.