The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2017,which was proposedrecently in the Senate by Sens. Grassley (R-IA) and Durbin (D-IL) has nowbeen offered in the House.  The textof the House version of the bill has not yet been made public but it is expectedto mirror the Senate version of the bill. The House version has four co-sponsors, Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ), DaveBrat (R-VA), Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ).

The Senateversion of the bill has yetto attract many co-sponsors – no Senators have co-sponsored it since theinitial four co-sponsors were announced on January 20.  This is not surprising.  The 2015 version of the bill onlyever attracted six Senators co-sponsorship. One of which, Jeff Sessions, is no longer in the Senate and is nowthe embattled Attorney General.

Nonetheless,Sen. Grassley has long been a foe of the H-1B visa.  While his version of the bill may not getpassed into law, it would not be surprising if many of the ideas and conceptsthat underlie the bill make up a future revision to the H-1B visa.

The press release offered by thefour House members says that the bill would modify the H-1B and L-1 visaprograms by:

  • Requiring employers to make a goodfaith effort to recruit and hire American workers before bringing in foreignworkers and prohibits employers from replacing American workers with H-1B andL-1 workers or giving preference to H-1B visa holders when they are fillingopen positions.
  • Modifying existing H-1B wagerequirements, and establishes wage requirements for L-1 workers.
  • Prohibiting employers fromoutsourcing H-1B and L-1 visa holders to other sites unless the employerobtains a waiver which is available only in limited circumstances when therights of American workers are protected.
  • Giving more authority to theDepartments of Homeland Security and Labor to investigate fraud and abuse inthe H-1B and L-1 programs by requiring the two departments to audit employersand share information, ensuring visa petitions are more effectivelyscrutinized.
  • Prohibiting companies from hiringH-1B employees if they employ more than 50 people and more than 50% of theiremployees are H-1B and L-1 visa holders.
  • Creating a new H-1B visa allocationsystem that gives top priority to workers who have earned advanced science,technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) degrees from U.S. institutions.
  • Increasing penalties on those whoviolate the law, and provides visa holders with a list of rights before theyenter the U.S. to ensure they are better protected against mistreatment orunderpayment of wages.