US Senate Introduces H-1B Visa Reform Bill Focused On Skill

Seeking to overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes comprehensively, a bipartisan group of influential senators have introduced legislation in the US Senate. They argued will protect American workers and crack down on foreign outsourcing companies that exploit these popular visa programmes to deprive qualified Americans of high-skilled jobs.

Technology companies depend on H1-B to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act will reduce fraud and abuse, protect American workers and visa holders, and require more transparency in the recruitment of foreign workers, the senators said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley introduced the legislation. It is co-sponsored by Senators Richard Blumenthal, Tommy Tuberville, Sherrod Brown, Bill Hagerty, and Bernie Sanders.

As a result of the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, US Citizenship and Immigration Services will have to prioritise the annual allocation of H-1B visas for the first time.

STEM( Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.) advanced degree students educated in the United States will be given preference for an H-1B visa, as well as those with high wages and those with valuable skills.

The legislation explicitly forbids the replacement of American workers by H-1B or L-1 visa holders and clarifies that the working conditions of similarly employed American workers may not be adversely affected when an H-1B worker is hired, including H-1B workers hired by another employer at the American worker's workplace.

Senators say the bill will target outsourcing companies that import large numbers of H-1B and L-1 workers for temporary training purposes only to send them back home to do the same jobs.

It requires the production of extensive statistical data about the H-1B and L-1 programmes, including wage data, worker education levels, place of employment, and gender.

In addition, the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act includes several reforms of the L-1 visa programme, including the establishment of a wage floor for L-1 workers; authority for the US Department of Homeland Security to investigate, audit, and enforce compliance with the L-1 programme requirements; assurance that intra-company transfers occur between legitimate branches of a company and do not involve "shell" facilities; and a change to the definition of "specialized knowledge" to ensure that L-1 visas are reserved only for truly key personnel, the media release said.