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IMMIGRATION

The PA Chamber supports federal immigration policies that serve as a catalyst to enhance U.S.-based companies’ international competitiveness and will help provide an adequate and predictable workforce. This includes expanding and improving administration of the programs that provide employer-sponsored green cards and temporary work visas, along with increasing the ability of highly qualified foreign students to attend American institutions of higher education and to remain in the United States following receipt of their degrees. The PA Chamber further supports efforts to improve and ensure the accuracy of the federal E-Verify system, which is intended to be a database through which employers can confirm the legal status of current or prospective employees, though not as a mandate on the business community.

Public policy related to immigration significantly impacts Pennsylvania’s economy, particularly as employers struggle to address workforce challenges and operate in an increasingly global economy in which they compete for talent around the world. Improving the legal immigration system is a critical component to the PA Chamber’s workforce development agenda and we urge lawmakers to recognize how immigration policy and immigrants specifically contribute to American and Pennsylvania’s prosperity.

The PA Chamber supports federal immigration policies that serve as a catalyst to enhance U.S.-based companies’ international competitiveness and help provide the talented and predictable workforce employers need:

  • Expand and improve administration of programs that provide employer-sponsored green cards and temporary work visas made available annually for appropriately skilled workers; including allowing market conditions to help guide decisions related to caps and per-country allocations. According to the U.S. Chamber, only 85,000 H-1B visas will be granted in Fiscal Year 2023, despite American businesses seeking over 308,000 in FY2022. This antiquated cap is not conducive to economic growth.
  • Expand opportunities for foreign nationals with advanced degrees and/or expertise in high demand industries and the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) fields to achieve legal work status.
  • Encourage and help facilitate highly qualified foreign students who attend and earn degrees from American institutions of higher education to remain in the United States.
  • Support consistency with and enforcement of federal immigration law and oppose immigration policies that call or allow for unduly punitive actions against employers, including state or local measures that conflict with or go beyond federal immigration policy;
  • The PA Chamber further supports efforts to improve and ensure the accuracy of the federal E-Verify system: a database through which employers can confirm the legal status of prospective employees. Should federal or state law require confirmation of an applicant’s legal status through E-verify, the PA Chamber believes the law should:
  • Provide safe harbor protections for employers who attempt in good faith to satisfy the mandate;
  • Only require businesses to verify new hires in a direct employer-employee relationship;
  • Include preemption language to prohibit local municipalities from enacting their own mandate; and
  • Allow for a reasonable implementation period.

Revised by the Policy Committee in February 2023 and up for approval by the PCBI Board of Directors in April 2023