This is Part III if the series of Articles on Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill now entitled as “Border, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013.”
The bill was introduced in the Congress after the Gang of Eight Bipartisan group of the Senators agreed on various provisions of the bill. The bill is now pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration.
In Parts I&II of the Bill, we discussed about Legalization of undocumented aliens who entered the US before December 30, 2011 and the provision relating to Family and Employment based immigrants eliminating the backlogs, elimination of forth preference category for brothers and sisters of US Citizens, elimination of Lottery program, and various other provisions. In this part of the article, we continue to provide information about the provisions relating to Temporary Visas.
Temporary Visas
H-1B Visa Reform
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We will raise the base cap of 65,000 to 110,000 (we amend the current 20,000 exemption for U.S. advanced degree holders to be a 25,000 exemption for advanced degree graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from U.S. Schools).
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In future years, the cap can go as high as 180,000. The cap will increase/decrease in the following way:
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It will be based on two factors plugged into one formula known as the “High Skilled Jobs Demand Index” (with each factor weighed at 50%):
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The percentage by which cap-subject nonimmigrant visa petitions approved under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) for a fiscal year exceeds/fails to meet the cap (50%)
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The inverse of the percentage increase/decrease between the previous fiscal year and the current fiscal year in the number of unemployed persons in the “management, professional, and related occupations category” of BLS data (50%).
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The most the cap can increase/decrease by each year is 10,000 visas.
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We prevent H-1B workers from undercutting the wages paid to American workers by requiring employers to pay significantly higher wages for H-1B workers than under current law (and to first advertise the jobs to American workers at this higher wage before hiring an H-1B worker).
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We will provide spouses of H-1B workers with work authorization if the sending country of the worker provides reciprocal treatment to spouses of U.S. workers.
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We will establish a 60-day transition period for H-1B workers to change jobs.
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We will provide dual intent visas for all students who come here on bachelor’s degree programs or above.
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We crack down on abusers of the H-1B system by requiring “H-1B dependent employers” to pay significantly higher wages and fees than normal users of the program.
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If the employer has 50 or more employees, and more than 30% but less than 50% are H-1B or L-1 employees (who do not have a green card petition pending), the employer must pay a $5,000 fee per additional worker in either of these two statuses.
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If the employer has 50 or more employees, and more than 50% are H-1B or L-1 employees (who do not have a green card petition pending), the employer must pay a $10,000 fee per additional worker in either of these two statuses.
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We will also crack down on the use of the H-1B and L visas to outsource American jobs by prohibiting companies whose U.S. workforce largely consists of foreign guest workers from obtaining additional H-1B and L visas.