Yesterday, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2009, a bipartisan designed legislative act that aims to reform the H-1B and L-1 visa programs.
The Durbin-Grassley bill would make changes to the H-1B program by requiring that all employers who wish to hire H-1B workers would need to first make a good-faith attempt to recruit a qualified U.S. worker for the position. The bill would restrict U.S. employers from using H-1B workers to displace qualified U.S. workers. In addition, the bill would prohibit the practice of posting employment ads calling for H-1B only candidates and would prohibit employers from hiring additional H-1B or L-1 workers if more than half of their current workforce are H-1B and L-1 visa holders. In addition, new processes would be established to investigate, audit and penalize visa abuses.
“The H-1B visa program should complement the U.S. workforce, not replace it,” Durbin said. “Congress created the H-1B visa program so an employer could hire a foreign guest-worker when a qualified American worker could not be found. However, the H-1B visa program is plagued with fraud and abuse and is now a vehicle for outsourcing that deprives qualified American workers of their jobs. Our bill will put a stop to the outsourcing of American jobs and discrimination against American workers.”
The two senators had introduced a bill similar to the current one last year; that bill failed to become law.
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