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A major feature of the Immigration Act of 1990 is the change in the number and kind of persons permitted to immigrate on the basis of employment needs. That change was largely due to a recognition by Congress that in the coming years “it is unlikely that enough U.S. workers will be trained quickly enough to meet legitimate employment needs, and ... that immigration can and should be incorporated into an overall strategy that promotes the creation of the type of workforce needed in an increasingly competitive global economy without adversely impacting on the wages and working conditions of American workers.”
As of October 1, 1991, the allocation of visa numbers issued annually on the basis of skills and jobs increased to 140,000. Contrast that figure with the 54,000 numbers to which job-related immigration was limited under the former system, shared equally between the third preference (professionals and persons of exceptional ability) and sixth preference (other workers in short supply). As accompanying spouses and children are counted within the preferences, it is no wonder that enormous backlogs built up in the third and sixth. Given the total number of legal immigrants annually (rising to 601,786 in 1990), the allotment for workers was conspicuously small.
This section is designed to be a resource for identifying a particular field of employment that may be in short supply and its pitfalls.
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