Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced a new bill this Monday which is targeted at reforming the H-1B and L visa programs. This bill claims at eliminating fraud and abuse of the H-1B Visa program. The proposed legislation makes reforms to increase enforcement, modify wage requirements, and ensure protection for visa holders and American workers.

Highlighted Summary of the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2013

• H-1B petitioners (Employers) need to list available position for hiring on Department of Labor sponsored website for 30 days, prior to filing an H-1B petition.
• An H-1B petition filed by an employer who comprises of 50 or more U.S. employees will only be accepted when the employer proves that the total workforce on H-1B and L visa are less than 50 percent of the total company workforce.
• Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security would be allowed to do random audits on companies thus ensuring workers protection.
• Each employer holding H-1B employees must submit W-2 tax form for each visa holder to the Department of Labor (of previous year’s employees).
• Administrative fines per violation will be increased from $1000 to $2000 and from $5000 to $10,000 for willful misrepresentation and would restrict these companies in hiring foreign workers in future.
• Wages paid to the H-1B visa holders must be the highest of the locally-determined prevailing wage for the occupational classification in the area of employment; the median average wage for all workers in the occupational classification in the area of employment; or the median wage for skill level 2 in the occupational classification found in the most recent occupational employment statistics survey.

[youtube width=”650″ height=”450″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IyZ4fLsmws[/youtube]

Here is a detailed overview on the proposed legislation highlights:

H-1B Visa Approval Clause

An important proposal to highlight is about the approval of an H-1B Petition. According to the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act 2013, if an employer comprising of 50 or more US employees files an H-1B petition, the H-1B application would not be accepted unless the petitioner attests that not more than half of the company’s employees are H-1B or L visa holders.

Random Audits of H1-B Sponsor Companies

The proposed bill would also allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Labor (DOL) to conduct random audits. This is to ensure that the companies do follow the rules and regulations and also ensures worker protection. Administrative fines will be imposed per violation.

Job Posting on Department of Labor-Sponsored Website before filing H-1B Petition

The legislation includes to list an available job position in the department of labor-sponsored website for 30 days, before submitting a temporary worker visa petition to the USCIS . The bill strongly mentions to put good effort in hiring American workers first, and opt for a foreign workers if unable to find an American worker.

Senator Charles Grassley commented:

Somewhere along the line, the H-1B program got sidetracked. The program was never meant to replace qualified American workers, but it was instead intended as a means to fill gaps in highly specialized areas of employment. When times are tough, like they are now, it’s especially important that Americans get every consideration before an employer looks to hire from abroad. The legislation will benefit the American worker, while still ensuring that US companies get the specialized workers they need.

Modify Wage Requirements

This bill also proposes to modify wage requirements for an H-1B Visa holder. The wages paid to an H-1B visa holder must be the highest of the locally-determined prevailing wage for the occupational classification in the area of employment.

The bill also stresses on plenty of other proposals which are not of high importance. It is highly unlikely that all the proposals in this bill would be considered. But, some of the proposals in this bill might be added to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that is being crafted by the bipartisan group of senators.