Stop retconning history. The H-1B has always been meant as a path to permanent residence, which is why it has been dual intent since the beginning. The AC21 in

Stop retconning history. The H-1B has always been meant as a path to permanent residence, which is why it has been dual intent since the beginning. The AC21 indefinite extensions were added because the per-country backlogs were not anticipated back when the program was created. But it has always, from the very beginning, built a path to permanent residence in via EB2, EB3 and the dual intent provision. Edit: The person replying to me about the H1B not being dual intent from the beginning is wrong. I have receipts. The H1B was introduced in the Immigration Act of 1990. https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/senate-bill/358/text https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/senate-bill/358... > `(h) The fact that an alien is the beneficiary of an application for a preference status filed under section 204 or has otherwise sought permanent residence in the United States shall not constitute evidence of an intention to abandon a foreign residence for purposes of obtaining a visa as a nonimmigrant described in subparagraph (H)(i) or (L) of section 101(a)(15) or otherwise obtaining or maintaining the status of a nonimmigrant described in such subparagraph, if the alien had obtained a change of status under section 248 to a classification as such a nonimmigrant before the alien's most recent departure from the United States.'. Edit to respond to the second reply: The H-1B is dual intent. I did not make any claims about a visa category that no longer exists. Besides, the argument about whether the H-1B is an update or a new category doesn't matter -- it is clear that Congress intended for the H-1B, as created (or updated if you will) in 1990, to be a path to permanent residence. The assertion that it was never intended that way is ahistorical. Further edit: It sounds like rayiner's dad came in on an older H-1 which indeed didn't have the dual intent provision, not an H-1B which does. The details matter here! Further, further edit: > The only reason you need “dual intent” is because the law still requires H1-B holders to have non-immigrant intent. I literally pointed to the provision of the 1990 Act which does not require non-immigrant intent for people in H and L statuses. This is what Congress intended. Of course the H-1B isn't an immigrant visa. It is a dual intent visa, in that it preserves the option value of not having to become a green card holder (and thus pay US taxes worldwide if you decide to leave later, etc.) So someone on an H-1B can choose to become a permanent resident, but doesn't have to become one. I'm sympathetic to the argument that people should have to decide within a few years either to leave or to stay permanently, but for that the green card backlogs need to be eliminated by statute.