Moran to introduce updated high-skilled immigration bill this month

{mosads}Both parties have supported passing high-skilled immigration legislation, but previous bills have stalled after getting tangled up in the wider immigration debate. The Kansas Republican said he hopes Congress is able to rise above the gridlock and pass a high-skilled measure this time around.

“The only reason that I can see that we can’t advance that legislation is there are those who want to hold it hostage for other items in a immigration agenda,” he said. “And I worry a bit politically that while there’s now [a] focus upon immigration issues and immigration policy that there may be those who want to use this topic one more time for politics and keep raising the standard by which legislation is satisfactory.”

Moran noted that seven countries have changed their immigration laws to attract entrepreneurs during his brief time in the Senate. In particular, he said Chile has recruited entrepreneurs from across the globe to start companies within its country.

He warned that the U.S. risks losing its competitiveness globally by dragging its feet on reforming its immigration laws and allowing engineers and graduates with advanced degrees to stay in the country.

“The problem is that while we wait for the political resolution of broad-based immigration legislation, other countries are not waiting and we are losing the opportunities for entrepreneurship and those individuals here,” Moran said.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) are also co-sponsors of the Startup Visa Act.