WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John Katko (NY-24) today announced the passage of the Bridging the Gap for New Americans Act, a bill that will help legal immigrants and refugees with professional certifications from other countries fully utilize their skillsets in the United States. Rep. Katko was inspired to introduce this legislation in 2020 following conversations with InterFaith Works, a refugee resettlement agency located in Syracuse. The bill received prior approval from the U.S. Senate and it now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law. Watch Rep. Katko’s remarks on the House Floor in support of this legislation here.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, an estimated 2 million immigrants with college degrees in the U.S. are relegated to low-wage jobs or left unemployed, even when they have professional experience in understaffed fields like the healthcare sector. This phenomenon, commonly referred to as ‘brain waste’, comes at a significant cost to our economy and to immigrant families in Central New York. On an annual basis, ‘brain waste’ is estimated to result in more than $10 billion in unrealized tax receipts at the federal, state, and local levels and over $39 billion in unrealized wages for college-educated immigrants across the nation.

Many factors contribute to ‘brain waste,’ including language barriers, limits on the recognition of international degrees and credentials, the accessibility of relicensing processes, and the availability of...

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