April 2, 2004

H-1B Bill to be Dropped in House

GT has learned that Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) plans on introducing the “American Workforce Improvement and Jobs Protection Act” in the very near future. The Republican-backed legislation revises H-1B and L visa eligibility and filing requirements. In summary, the bill:

• Exempts from the numerical restrictions on H-1B visas foreign national graduates of U.S. universities who have earned a master’s degree or higher. There would be a limit of 20,000 exemptions per year.
• Makes permanent the non-displacement and recruitment attestations for employers who rely on H-1B workers, the $1000 filing fee for H-1B applications, and the Department of Labor’s investigative authority.
• Imposes an additional fee of $500, to be paid by the employer, on all initial filings of H-1B and L applications.
• Prohibits the issuance, extension or amended classification of L-1B visas to foreign nationals who would be working primarily at the worksite of a non-petitioning employer, if the foreign national will be controlled and supervised principally by the non-petitioning employer, or if the purpose of the foreign national’s entry is to provide labor to the non-petitioning employer.
• Reinstitutes the requirement for all L visa applicants to have worked for the employer abroad for one year.
• Requires Department of Homeland Security to maintain certain statistical reports on L visa usage.

The bill is cosponsored by Reps. Chabot (R-OH), Flake (R-AZ), Goodlatte (R-VA), McKeon (R-CA), and Carter (R-TX). GT will be monitoring this legislation closely and will provide updates as they are available.