Trump’s “Merit-Based Immigration System” May Benefit Indian Techies:- US President Donald Trump announced his support for a new legislation “The RAISE Act” and if passed by the Congress and signed into the law, it could benefit highly-educated and technology professionals from countries like India.

As per the new legislation, it would reduce half the number legal immigrants allowed into the US and move to a “merit-based” system favoring English-speaking skilled workers for residency cards.

The present lottery system to get into the US would be removed with this RAISE Act. A points-based system would be introduced instead to get a green card. The English language skills, education, high- paying job offers and age, would be the factors taken into account.

Trump said at a White House event to announce his support to the RAISE Act, “The RAISE Act will reduce poverty, increase wages, and save taxpayers billions and billions of dollars. It will do this by changing the way the US issues Green Cards to nationals from other countries. Green Cards provide permanent residency, work authorization, and fast track to citizenship.”

The RAISE Act ends chain migration, and replaces the low-skilled system with a new points-based system for receiving a Green Card, said Trump.

“Applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves and their families, and demonstrate skills that will contribute to our economy, will be favored by this competitive application process,” he said. The RAISE Act prevents new migrants and new immigrants from collecting welfare, and protects US workers from being displaced, added Trump.

“That is a very big thing. They are not going to come in and just immediately go and collect welfare. That does not happen under the RAISE Act. They cannot do that. Crucially, the Green Card reforms in the RAISE Act will give American workers a pay raise by reducing unskilled immigration,” he said.

America’s competitive edge in the 21st century will not only be restored by this new legislation, but the sacred bonds of trust between America and its citizens will also be restored, said Trump.

“This legislation demonstrates our compassion for struggling American families who deserve an immigration system that puts their needs first and that puts America first,” Trump said.

“First, we bring over a million immigrants into this country a year. That is like adding the population of Montana every single year; adding the population of Arkansas every three years. The vast majority of those workers - or those immigrants come here not because of their English-language abilities or their job skills, or their job offer, or their educational attainment,” said Senator Cotton.

In fact, because of their job skills and their ability to succeed in this economy, only one in 15 out of a million new immigrants come here, Cotton said.

The RAISE Act will be “re-placing Green Card system towards people who can speak English, who have high degrees of educational attainment, who have a job offer that pays more, and a typical job in their local economy, who is going to create a new business, and who are outstanding in their field around the world,” he added.

Senator Perdue said the current system does not work. “It keeps America from being competitive, and it does not meet the needs of the economy today,” he said.

“Today we bring in 1.1 million legal immigrants a year. Over 50 per cent of our households of legal immigrants today participate in our social welfare system. Right now, only one 1 out of 15 immigrants who come into our country come in with skills that are employable. We have got to change that,” he said.

Perdue said he looked at the best practices. “We looked at countries like Canada, Australia, and others. What were introducing today is modeled on the current Canadian and Australian systems. It’s pro-worker, pro-growth, and been proven to work. Both have been extremely successful in attracting highly skilled workers to those countries,” the Senator said.

“We can all agree that the goals of our nation’s immigration system should be to protect the interests of working Americans, including immigrants, and to welcome talented individuals who come here legally and want to work and make a better life for them. Our current system makes it virtually impossible for them to do that,” said the Senator.

In this proposal, the higher entry standards established will allow authorities to do a more thorough job reviewing applicants for entry. It will therefore protect the security of the US homeland, according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

He observed that as a result of this legislation, the extra time spent on vetting each application will also ensure that every application serves the national interest.

“The American people deserve a lawful immigration system that promotes our national interest. The RAISE Act would give us a more merit-based immigration system that admits the best and the brightest around the world while making it harder for people to come here illegally,” Sessions said.

“The bill would end programme known to be rife with fraud and abuse and finally improve the vetting process, making our country and working class wages much safer and stronger,” said the Attorney General.

SUPRAJA