The last set of changes to legal immigration gates we’ll consider focuses on specific temporary work visas. Members of the immigration reform group that CommonSense American organized at the request of the Co-Chairs of Congress’s Commonsense Coalition suggested particular attention to these visas in part because of the unprecedented rate at which the American population is aging. The current roughly 3-to-1 ratio of working-age to retirement-age Americans has been an important component of the American economy and the sustainability of core government programs like Social Security and Medicare. Temporary employment-based visas are seen as one of the most viable ways to bring in at least some of the millions more workers needed to maintain that ratio.  

The group also discussed reforms to permanent employment-based Green Cards as another way to address the need for additional workers. The group concluded that Green Card reform would be even more challenging politically than temporary work visas. In part because Green Cards include a path to citizenship, many immigration skeptics are more opposed to them than to temporary work visas. In fact, the group concluded that reforms that would significantly increase even temporary work visas would face considerable opposition. 

Consequently, the group focused on reforms to three of the most important temporary work visas in the current system. These more specific reforms were considered the most meaningful ones that had a reasonable prospect of passing Congress. They include reforms to allow modest increases in the number of foreign workers where they are judged to be most beneficial. They also include reforms to add restrictions making the US worker protections more rigorous.

As noted at the start of this section, unlike unauthorized workers, those who come through a temporary work visa program have met requirements designed to ensure they don’t harm US workers. Their employers have met similarly aimed requirements. All three programs we review use the three-layer system, described above, to screen out criminals. Each program also has its own features designed to help ensure that foreign workers have a positive impact on the US economy and do not harm native workers. Still, people across the range of views on immigration agree that work visa programs are outdated and could be improved in many ways.

To make it more manageable, you have been assigned a version of the brief focused on one of the three most important temporary work visas. At the end of the brief, you’ll have the option to weigh in on the other two categories.