Posted on 11/11/2015 12:09:13 PM PST by ConservingFreedom
U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Dick Durbin, Assistant Democratic Leader, today are introducing bipartisan legislation that would reform the H-1B visa program, consistent with Congress's original intent, by ensuring that qualified American workers are given the first opportunity at high-skilled job opportunities. The legislation makes reforms to increase enforcement, modify wage requirements and ensure protection for American workers as well as visa holders. Grassley and Durbin first introduced this legislation in 2007 and have been long-time proponents of H-1B reform.
"The H-1B visa program was never meant to replace qualified American workers, but it was instead intended as a means to fill gaps in highly specialized areas of employment that cannot be filled by Americans. The abuse of the system is real, and media reports are validating what we have argued against for years, including the fact that Americans are training their replacements," Grassley said. "There's a sense of urgency here for Americans who are losing their jobs to lesser skilled workers who are coming in at lower wages on a visa program that has gotten away from its original intent. Reform of the H-1B visa program must be a priority."
"Reforming the H-1B and L-1 visa programs is a critical component of fixing our broken immigration system and must be included in comprehensive immigration reform legislation," said Durbin. "For years, foreign outsourcing companies have used loopholes in the laws to displace qualified American workers and facilitate the outsourcing of American jobs. The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act would end these abuses and protect American and foreign workers from exploitation. I thank Senator Grassley for partnering with me on this important bipartisan legislation."
The bill is also cosponsored by Senators Bill Nelson, Richard Blumenthal, and Sherrod Brown.
Grassley and Durbin's efforts have long focused on making qualified American workers the first priority for employers. The bill, as in previous years, requires all employers who seek to hire H-1B visa holders to first make a good faith effort to recruit American workers.
The bill would also prohibit companies from hiring H-1B employees if they employ more than 50 people and more than 50 percent of their employees are H-1B and L-1 visa holders. This provision would crack down on outsourcing companies that import large numbers of H-1B and L-1 workers for short training periods and then send these workers back to their home country to do the work of Americans.
The bill also gives the Department of Labor enhanced authority to review, investigate, and audit employer compliance with program requirements, as well as to penalize fraudulent or abusive conduct. It requires the production of extensive statistical data about the H-1B and L-1 programs, including wage data, worker education levels, place of employment and gender.
The bill clarifies that working conditions of similarly employed American workers may not be adversely affected by the hiring of the H-1B worker, including H-1B workers who have been placed by another employer at the American worker's worksite. In addition, it explicitly prohibits the replacement of American workers by H-1B or L-1 visa holders. These provisions address the types of abuses that have been well-documented in recent press reports.
The Grassley-Durbin reform bill will for the first time prioritize the annual allocation of H-1B visas. The new system would ensure that the best and brightest students being educated in the United States receive preference for an H-1B visa. The preference system also gives a leg up to advanced degree holders, those being paid a high wage, and those with valuable skills.
In addition, the bill includes several reforms of the L-1 visa program. These include establishment of a wage floor for L-1 workers; authority for the Department of Homeland Security to investigate, audit and enforce compliance with L-1 program requirements; assurance that intra-company transfers occur between legitimate branches of a company and don't 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.
Ted Cruz, please get behind this effort instead of trying to increase H-1B visas fivefold.
Related: Ted Cruz on the Vince Coakley Radio Show (Cruz on H-1Bs)
Does the bill have a clause embedded that increases the number of H1-B visas after all the “reforms” are proclaimed and then forgotten?
But on the other hand, people I highly respect are pointing to abuses in the program. I think the abuse is to drive down wages with foreign workers. The consequence is to further discourage US citizens from pursuing STEM degrees.
More studying is needed on my part- your thought are welcome!!
As long as Cruz continues to parrot this bogus talking point, I will not believe he is serious about addressing this issue.
The entire H1B program can be solved by requiring employers pay 125% of the prevailing national wage for these positions. Voila, no problem.
I would put it into law that if an American worker is displace by an H1B visa holder that the company would be forced to pay them 2 years’ wages and benefits.
H-1B Is Designed to Allow Employers to Replace Americans with Cheap Foreign Workers
H-1B Is Designed to Allow Employers to Pay Foreign Workers Extremely Low Wages
Hopeful news. Thanks for the link!
Cruz will hopefully sign on, as well. I've read that he's flip-flopped on his H1-B Visa stance, so we'll see.
Increase prevailing wage for H-1Bs. We graduate two times more Americans with STEM degrees each year than find STEM jobs, yet as much as two-thirds of entry-level hiring for IT jobs is accomplished through the H-1B program. More than half of H-1B visas are issued for the program's lowest allowable wage level, and more than eighty percent for its bottom two. Raising the prevailing wage paid to H-1Bs will force companies to give these coveted entry-level jobs to the existing domestic pool of unemployed native and immigrant workers in the U.S., instead of flying in cheaper workers from overseas. This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities.
My friend in Austin works for an software IT company. They have MANY visa employees. The company works employees as many as 14 hours a day, and often 7 days a week -— they are on “salary” so hours don’t matter. My friend says they can do it because the visa holders are afraid of losing their jobs and getting deported. The Americans know that if they don’t go along they will be replaced by visa workers, because the company can pay visa workers less. It seems that this is common practice in the software IT industry in that small “blue spot” called Austin.
The company just got sold, and the new company has already announced that there will be no days off or vacation time starting 1 Jan 2016. I guess that means the employees will be working 365 days next year???
I think this is slave labor, and should be criminal. If the visas are allowing this kind of employee exploitation, then I think the whole visa program needs to go away completely.
He hasn't yet backed off on his claims that there is a shortage of STEM workers or that H-1B grows the economy.
I agree with that or they should pay at least 125% of the salary of the soon to be out of work employee forced to train the H1B.
Just wow.
Well, this seems to be a start in the right direction.
Next, I hope something is done about other work visa programs like the J-1 (Summer Work Travel Program), which brings in unskilled labor to do minimum-wage jobs.
Oh. Now he changes it.
What do his “Club For Growth pals say?
'It's hard to know what these candidates mean by "abuse." Using temporary visa workers to replace U.S. workers, who must train replacements as a condition of severance, has been a longstanding feature of the H-1B program.
'[...] In arguing for his proposed increase two years ago, Cruz pointed to what he called "a serious shortage" of STEM workers. He has not said anything lately to indicate he has changed his mind about that shortage.
'In the radio interview, Cruz made a point of backing immigration reforms that would shift the U.S. in the direction of an immigration policy focused around a person's skills. That could mean easing green card immigration for skilled workers. But until Cruz produces details about what he has in mind, or proposes specific legislation, his position remains more talking point than concrete plan.
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