US: Bills Propose Changes to In-Demand H-1B Visa Scheme

A series of bills are set to be introduced in the US congress proposing changes to the popular temporary worker H-1B and L-1 visa programmes, with the aim of curbing abuse of the system. The H-1B visa for highly skilled foreign workers has widespread support among American firms hiring foreign graduates, especially technology companies in Silicon Valley.

One of the bills, which has bipartisan backing will, for the first time, require US Citizenship and Immigration Services carry out a selection process in the annual allocation of the H-1B visas instead of maintaining the current lottery system.

“Congress created these programs to complement America’s high-skilled workforce, not replace it”

Under this new system, the “best and brightest students” who have been educated in the US will be given preference, according to the senators who introduced the legislation, Republican Chuck Grassley from Iowa and Democrat Dick Durbin from Illinois.

Both have advocated for reforms of the H-1B visa programme for years.

“Reforming the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes [used by international companies to transfer workers to the US] 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.”

An H-1B visa is typically granted to individuals working in a speciality occupation, for example in business management or engineering jobs.

There is currently an annual cap of 65,000 people who can be granted an H-1B visa, and with an additional 20,000 visas allowed under the advanced degree exemption.

The selection process is done by lottery. For FY 2017, 236,000 petitions were filed for the H-1B visa, for the total of 85,000 allocations.

The new proposal will do away with the lottery system and will require preference be given to those who have been educated in the US.

More information: https://thepienews.com/news/us-bills-propose-changes-to-in-demand-h-1b-visa-scheme/