For a change, a new bill with a great idea has been introduced by Congresswoman Lofgren and Congressman Goodlatte that will eliminate per country limits in Employment Based Immigration. More details here
The per country limits in immigration are understandable for promoting diversity but are totally brain dead when applied to employment based immigration. Not only is that bad for American business, it discriminates against employees from countries like India and China because there are several years (from 1 – 5 depending on how lucky you are) for which they cannot switch jobs or move as a result of backlogs in immigration, some caused by incompetance and most caused by the per country limit. Also being laid off etc. often requires restarting the entire process again at the new employer.
Also, the problems of legal immigrants don’t get as much press time as those of illegal immigrants. In fact many proposed bills for illegal immigrants make it more worthwhile to be an illegal immigrant than a legal one, especially for people who have teenage children and are stuck in the immigration queue for years on end.