Senator Cornyn's SKIL (Securing Knowledge, Innovation, and Leadership) bill (HR 5658) has been updated and re-introduced, this time in the House by Rep. John Shadegg. It was introduced on July 1, 2010. This proposal came very close to getting passed into law in December, 2005. It passed the Senate comfortably and was set to come up for a vote in the House, where it was also expected to pass easily. Unfortunately, Cong. Sensenbrenner threw a temper tantrum over an imagined slight and the bill never came up for a vote.

This legislation is now back. It expands the H1B program in a sensible fashion by creating a floor of 115,000 visas, with the possibility of larger quotas if that limit is reached.

On the immigrant side, it would exempt from all quota limits:

·         anyone who has an advanced degree from a US school;

·         anyone who works in a "labor shortage area" and receives a blanket labor certification from the DOL;

·         anyone who has earned a STEM advanced degree and has worked in their field in the US for at least three years

The employment based quota would be raised to a minimum of 290,000, with the possibility of more numbers being added to the quota in the future.

L visa holders would receive the same kind of exemption from their maximum stay limits that H1B holders now enjoy.

Applicants may file for AOS upon a showing of eligibility and need not wait until their priority dates are current. Adjustment of status would not be granted, however, until a visa number is actually available.

The visa petition process would be streamlined for "established employers."

The DOL would be required to complete prevailing wage determinations within 20 days and PERM appeals within 60 days.

No one knows what is going to happen to this proposal. It was very popular in 2005 and passed the Republican controlled Senate easily. If members of Congress are allowed to vote on it, it would likely pass both houses of Congress easily. The question is whether it will be allowed to come up for a vote, and if so, when. The most likely answer is that this is being positioned for a vote in the lame duck session of Congress following the November election.