EAGLE ACT

1.Context

The White House has supported Congress to pass legislation that seeks to eliminate the per-country quota on green cards to allow US employers to focus on hiring people based on merit, not their birthplace, a bill, if passed, would benefit several hundreds of thousands of immigrants specially Indian-Americans

2.About Eagle Act

This legislation going to remove the per-country cap on permanent residency visas, or green cards, for the US. This was introduced in the House of Representatives in 2021.  Democrat Representative Zoe Lofgren and Republican John Curtis introduced the Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act of 2021

3.Green Card

A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanent

4.Benefits to Indians

• 75 percent of the backlog for employment‐based visas was made up of Indians. "Backlogged Indian workers face an impossible wait of nine decades if they all could remain in the line. More than 200,000 petitions filed for Indians could expire as a result of the workers dying of old age before they receive green cards
• With the EAGLE Act, the per-country cap would be removed, which may expedite the petitions for those applying for employment-based green cards.
•  However, since the highest number of applicants is from India and China, the EAGLE Act also seeks to reserve visas for ‘Lower Admission States’ for nine fiscal years (FY).
•  While 30 percent of employment-based visas will be reserved in FY1, this would be reduced to five percent in FY 7, 8, and 9.  
• The bill also ensures that "no country may receive more than 25 percent of reserved visas and no country may receive more than 85 percent of unreserved visas," in the nine fiscal years.

5.The implication of Act on Indians

The bill will be advantageous for Indian job-seekers who currently rely on temporary visas or await green cards to work in the US.

This legislation would be life-changing for hundreds of thousands of immigrants currently stuck in legal limbo as they wait for green cards

The bill will also enable individuals who have been waiting in the immigrant visa backlog for two years to file their green card applications

6.The implication of Act on America

It will benefit the US economy by allowing American employers to focus on hiring immigrants based on their merit.