US senators approved 5000 Visas for Tibet Refugees

US lawmakers on 21 May 2013 approved the provision of 5000 visas to Tibetan refugees to enter the US over the next three years which is aimed at aimed at fixing the US immigration system.

The measure, approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee by voice vote, is supposed to make conditions easier for displaced Tibetans living in India and Nepal, where Tibetan resettlement facilities  is around 50 years old.

Some important points to be Remembered

• The immigration Bill would ultimately provide a 13-year path to citizenship, or longer, for most of the 11 million people living in the US illegally.
• However, its prospects of getting through both the Senate and the House of Representatives remain uncertain. The Tibetan visa provision would take effect if the wider Bill becomes law.
• More than 110 Tibetans who have self immolated since 2009, with most dying of their injuries, in demonstrations against what they view as Chinese oppression.

Senators have already waded through nearly a third of the more than 300 amendments being considered for the bipartisan immigration bill. Several of the measures are aimed at making the sweeping legislation more palatable to conservatives.