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NORTH AMERICAN Newsline MARCH 11, 2022 | The Indian Eye 26

Senators durbin and Grassley

introduce bipartisan H-1B, L-1 visa

reform legislation

ments; assurance that intra-company
OUR BUREAU
transfers occur between legitimate
Washington, DC branches of a company and do not in-
volve “shell” facilities; and a change
wo leading US senators have to the definition of “specialized
introduced a bipartisan legisla-
ttion that would prioritize those knowledge” to ensure that L-1 visas
are reserved only for truly key per-
with advanced US degrees in the dis- sonnel.
tribution of high skilled work visas do- Durbin also Tuesday introduced
ing away with the current lottery sys- the Resolving Extended Limbo for
tem. The legislation “to reform and Immigrant Employees and Families
close loopholes in the H-1B and L-1 (RELIEF) Act, legislation to elim-
visa programs” was introduced in the inate the family and employment
Senate Tuesday by Senate Democrat- green card backlog by increasing the
ic Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Chair number of green cards.
of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
and Senator Chuck Grassley, Repub-
lican Ranking Member of the Senate almost four million future amer-
Judiciary Committee. icans are on the State depart-

H-1B visas are used by uS com- ment’s immigrant visa waiting
panies to employ high skilled Durbin and Grassley first in- including H-1B workers who have list, in addition to hundreds of

foreign workers in specialty oc- troduced the legislation in 2007 and been placed by another employer at thousands of immigrants in the
have been long-time advocates for the American worker’s worksite.
cupations. L-1 visas are avail- H-1B and L-1 visa reform. “Reform- Importantly, the legislation will uS who are also waiting for green
able for intracompany trans- ing the H-1B and L-1 visa programs is crack down on outsourcing compa- cards, according to a press
a critical component to fixing Amer- nies that import large numbers of release issued by his office.
ferees who work in managerial ica’s broken immigration system,” H-1B and L-1 workers for temporary
positions or have specialized Durbin said. “For years, outsourcing training purposes only to send the However, under current law,
companies have used legal loopholes workers back to their home countries
knowledge. indians profession- to displace qualified American work- to do the same job. only 226,000 family green cards and
als extensively use such visas. ers, exploit foreign workers, and fa- Specifically, the bill would pro- 140,000 employment green cards
cilitate the outsourcing of American hibit companies with more than 50 are available annually. Children and
jobs. Our legislation would fix these employees, of which at least half are spouses of lawful permanent resi-
Durbin also separately introduced broken programs, protect workers, H-1B or L-1 holders, from hiring dents (LPRs) count against these
a legislation to eliminate the family and put an end to these abuses.” additional H-1B employees. The bill numbers, further restricting the num-
and employment green card backlog “Congress created the H-1B and gives the US Department of Labor ber of available green cards. “Amer-
by increasing the number of green L-1 visa programs to complement enhanced authority to review, investi- ica is a nation of immigrants. But
cards. An estimated 1.2 million indi- America’s high-skilled workforce, not gate, and audit employer compliance without enough green cards avail-
viduals, a majority of them Indians, replace it,” he said. “Our bill takes with program requirements, as well able annually, immigrant families are
are stuck in a decades long green card steps to ensure that the programs as to penalize fraudulent or abusive stuck in crippling backlogs for years
backlog. The H-1B and L-1 Visa Re- work for Americans and skilled for- conduct. or even decades,” Durbin said.
form Act will reduce fraud and abuse, eign workers alike,” Grassley said. It requires the production of Along with eliminating the fami-
provide protections for American The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform extensive statistical data about the ly and employment green card back-
workers and visa holders, and require Act will require US Citizenship and H-1B and L-1 programs, including log within five years, the bill will help
more transparency in the recruitment Immigration Services to prioritize for wage data, worker education levels, keep American families together
of foreign workers, according to a the first time the annual allocation of place of employment, and gender. by classifying spouses and children
press release from Durban’s office. H-1B visas. In addition, the H-1B and L-1 of LPRs as immediate relatives and
This comprehensive overhaul of The legislation explicitly pro- Visa Reform Act includes several exempting derivative beneficiaries
the H-1B and L-1 visa programs will hibits the replacement of American reforms of the L-1 visa program, in- of employment-based petitions from
protect American workers and crack workers by H-1B or L-1 visa holders, cluding establishment of a wage floor annual green card limits, protect
down on foreign outsourcing com- and clarifies that the working condi- for L-1 workers; authority for the US “aging out” children who qualify for
panies, which exploit these visa pro- tions of similarly employed American Department of Homeland Security to LPR status based on a parent’s immi-
grams to deprive qualified Americans workers may not be adversely affect- investigate, audit, and enforce com- gration petition, and lift per-country
of high-skilled jobs, it said. ed by the hiring of an H-1B worker, pliance with L-1 program require- limitations, the release said.

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