The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed Maine’s Congressional Delegation’s efforts to shorten the waiting period for asylum seekers to receive work permits.
According to the Portland Press Herald, bills sponsored by U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree and Senator Susan Collins were among 16 bipartisan reforms cited by the chamber in a letter sent Wednesday to members of Congress. The letter endorsed the reform bills and urged both parties to work together to pass the bills and resolve years of an “insufficient supply of worker visas” and help end the workforce shortage many states are facing.
Pingree and Collins say shortening the six months wait period to 30 days would help asylum seekers get on their feet faster in their new country. Collins also said granting work permits at a faster pace would help immigrants become self-sufficient and therefore less reliant on the financial resources of many strained host communities.
It is the first time the chamber has endorsed efforts to shorten the six months wait period, which was signed into law in 1996.
