Rep. Lamar Smith Press Release.
Re: Workforce Improvement and Protection Act of 1998 (HR 3736, an H1-B Visa Bill.)
Date: April 29, 1998.
Source: Office of Rep. Lamar Smith.
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | April 29, 1998 |
H1-B, Current Law: 65,000 visas per year, 390,000 maximum in America at any one time.
New Caps Under Smith legislation:
FY '98-95,000 (46 percent increase) FY '99-105,000 (62 percent increase) FY '00-115,000 (77 percent increase) Maximum of 690,000 H1-B visa holders in the U.S. at one time should the FY 2000 level be continued.
No Layoffs of American Workers:
The employer can not lay-off an American worker and replace with an H-1B alien where the American worker has substantially equivalent qualifications and experience in the specialty occupation in which the H-1B alien will be or is employed and works in the same area of employment.
If a "job contractor" petitions for H-1B alien, the employer to whom the H-1B will be contracted has to complete equivalent no lay-off attestation.
Enforcement:
Employer must have taken good-faith, timely, and significant steps to recruit and retain sufficient American workers in the specialty occupation in which the H-1B alien will be employed. Such steps include recruitment in the United States using procedures that meet industry-wide standards, offering at least the prevailing wage, and offering employment to any qualified American workers who apply.
Currently, the Department of Labor can only launch an investigation of an employer of H-1B aliens if an aggrieved party files a complaint.
Department of Labor can initiate investigations without having received complaints in the case of AH-1B dependent@ employers
Department of Labor can initiate random investigations for five years in the case of employers who have been found to have committed certain violations of the H-1B program.
CONTACT: Allen Kay 202-225-4236