February 5, 2004

Hearing Blasts Use of L-1 Visas

House International Relations Committee Chair Henry Hyde (R-IL) presided over a hearing yesterday on the use and misuse of the L-1 visa. Entitled “L Visas: Losing Jobs Through Laissez-Faire Policies?”, the hearing was the first of the year for the International Relations Committee, pointing the way to a year where immigration issues will likely be in the forefront of congressional activity.

The hearing focused on a belief that there has been significant misuse of this visa category, particularly with regard to L-1B visas for workers with specialized knowledge. Both the Chair and the ranking minority member of the committee, Tom Lantos (D-CA), expressed the view that L-1 visa program was badly abused and that guest workers were being brought in to the direct detriment of US workers. Lantos referred to it as a “tawdry affair” that doomed US workers to train their replacements. Witnesses included two former employees of companies which employed L-1Bs; in both cases, the witnesses attested that their jobs had been taken by L-1B visa holders at lower salaries. Other witnesses included Michael Gildea, Executive Director, Department for Professional Employees, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); Dan Stein, the Executive Director of the Federation for Immigration Reform; and Harris Miller, President of the Information Technology Association of America. No companies were asked to testify, and requests from companies went unheeded.

This hearing, which according to Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL) will be the first in a series of hearings on this issue, blamed the L visa for current outsourcing trends. Committee members focused on ways to correct the perceived deficiencies in the L visa program, including numerical limits and caps on the length of stay, as well as greater enforcement of the current program. One witness suggested that a fee of $2,000 to $3,000 per month, per worker, was a way to ensure that employers did not use the visa category to replace US workers at lower pay. The hearing dwelt at length on the H-1B program, both as a model of worker protections that the L-1B was used to get around, and as another failed visa program where enforcement is nonexistent.

It is interesting to note that the International Relations Committee, which does not have jurisdiction over DHS or visa programs, held this hearing at all, and that the Chair noted it is only the first in a series of hearings he intends on visa issues. He acknowledged the Committee’s limited role in legislating visa policy, but observed that the “clear harm to US workers” and the offshoring of jobs required airing and reform.

Employers will face further restrictions unless congressional leaders can be convinced that the L-1B visa serves a useful purpose in an overall immigration scheme. Those employees with specialized knowledge are at risk given the tenor of yesterday’s questions and comments from those with power and the ear of the policymakers.

GT is very much involved in the L-1 debate on Capitol Hill and we will provide frequent updates.