New Bill to Cap L-1 visas

Date: Sunday, June 29, 2003 12:41 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro has introduced an L-1 visa reform bill. Her
bill, unlike Rep. Mica's gutless reform bill, has some real teeth in
it. The 30,000 per year cap would be the first time L-1s were
regulated, and it would help to prevent companies from shifting their
hiring from H-1B to L-1s when the H-1B cap drops to 65,000. DeLauro's
bill is a very good attempt to reign in the displacement of American
workers.

DeLauro's bill is exciting, and it's the right thing to do, but that
doesn't mean it will pass through the Congressional labyrinth. DeLauro
is a Democrat who will have to convince a Republican to cosponsor her
bill if if has a chance to survive. Republicans, and Democrats for that
matter, would rather throw their support towards Mica's bill since it
won't change anything of importance.

If you think a Republican in your state might support her, get on the
telephone and start pushing for it. Call DeLauro and voice your
support, especially if you are from Connecticut.

It's better if you make a telephone call because Congress doesn't pay
much attention to emails. Use these toll-free numbers to reach any
House or Senate office:

House: (877) 762-8762
Senate: (800) 648-3516

http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2003/visa_bill_6-18-03.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Lesley Sillaman

June 17, 2003

(202) 225-3661

www.house.gov/delauro

DeLauro to Introduce Legislation to Protect American Workers

Washington, DC - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) will introduce
the L-1 Non-Immigration Reform Act that would close the loopholes in
the immigration law that allow large corporations to bring in foreign
workers, pay them less, and replace good paying American jobs held by
American citizens.

This legislation would protect American workers from losing jobs by
preventing companies from using L-1 visas to displace American workers
for foreign workers working for less money, said DeLauro. At a time
when domestic unemployment is at an all-time high and tens and
thousands of jobless tech workers and others are looking for work, it
is important to close the loopholes that disadvantage American workers.

The L-1 visa program allows a multi-national corporation to bring into
the U.S. employees from their overseas subsidiaries on an intra-company
transfer basis. The only requirements are that these guest workers must
have worked for the company for one year out of the last three years
prior to the transfer and the foreign workers prior education ,
training, and employment must qualify him/her to perform the intended
services in the U.S. The L-1 visa is issued for one year and is
renewable for up to five years and seven years for high level
executives.

The L-1 visa program has no safeguards in place to ensure that
corporations do not use the program to bring in lower wage labor to
displace American workers. For example, under the L-1 program, there is
no limit on the total number of foreign workers that can be brought
into the U.S.; a corporation does not have to apply with the Department
of Labor to attest that they are not displacing American workers; there
is no requirement that the L-1 foreign guest worker can be paid
prevailing wages and benefits for the duration of their employment; and
corporations can execute blanket petitions for the L-1 transferees.

DeLauros legislation would specifically address these issues by:

Placing a cap of 35,000 annual L-1 visas allowed;

Banning the practice of filing blanket petitions to hire L-1
workers;

Prohibit L-1 visa to any firm that has laid off an American worker
within the preceding six months and for six months after the
application is filed;

Add a prevailing wage requirement to protect L-1 workers and to
protect U.S. workers from being displaced by lower wage L-1 visa
holders;

Require the L-1 guest worker to have been employed by the
petitioning firm full time, continuously for three years; authorize the
Department of Labor to conduct ongoing surveys of the level of
compliance by employers of the provisions and requirements of the L-1
visa program, and permit the secretary of Labor to impose
administrative remedies.

"Our economy has been in a downturn for three years, said DeLauro.
"More than three million people have lost their jobs since President
Bush took office. Now, more than ever, we need to ensure that all
Americans have access to good-paying jobs. Closing the loopholes in the
L-1 visas will ensure that Americans are given opportunities to work.":

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=44307

US democrat moots capping L-1 visas

SUNIL ADAM

INDIAWEST[ THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2003 11:21:01 AM ]

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, plans to
introduce a bill in the US Congress that seeks to cap the number of L-1
visas and "close the loopholes in the immigration law that allow large
corporations to bring in foreign workers, pay them less, and replace
good paying American jobs held by American citizens," according to a
press release posted on the congresswoman's official website.

The L-1 visa programme allows multinational companies to bring into the
US employees from their overseas subsidiaries as intra-company
transferees.

The proposed legislation seeks to cap the number of L-1 visas at 30,000
a year; ban the practice of filing blanket petitions to hire L-1
workers; prohibit L-1 visas to any firm that has laid off an American
worker within the preceding six months and for six months after the
application is filed; add a prevailing wage requirement to protect L-1
workers and to protect US workers from being displaced by lower wage
L-1 visa holders; require the L-1 guest worker to have been employed by
the petitioning firm full time, continuously, for three years;
authorise the Department of Labour to conduct ongoing surveys of the
level of compliance by employers of the provisions and requirements of
the L-1 visa programme, and permit the Secretary of Labour to impose
administrative remedies.

The 'L-1 Non-Immigration Reform Act', according to DeLauro, would
"protect American workers from losing jobs by preventing companies from
using L-1 visas to displace American workers for foreign workers
working for less money." The press release quoted the Congresswoman as
saying, "At a time when domestic unemployment is at an all-time high
and tens and thousands of jobless tech workers and others are looking
for work, it is important to close the loopholes that disadvantage
American workers."

Indian industry analysts and insiders, however, disagree with the
representative's reasoning. The L-1 visas, which take less time to
process, unlike H-1 visas, give offshore companies the flexibility to
respond quickly to customer requirements, Sridhar Ramasubbu, general
manager (finance and investor relations) of Wipro, the third largest
Indian information technologies company, told India-West.

There are others who question the notion of foreign technology
professionals depriving Americans their jobs. In the long run, any
restrictions on outsourcing or on the movement of high-tech workers
will in fact adversely affect the competitive advantage of American
companies, said Prasanna Sathpathy, general manager and regional
director of Patni Computer Systems Inc., India's sixth largest software
services exporter. There is every chance that American software
industry will also go the way of the steel, automobile and
electronic-hardware industries, which had to move out most of their
manufacturing to developing countries.

"It's better for American companies to retain their competitive edge by
bringing, for instance, 10 percent of a company's workforce from
outside doing back end and low end work, rather than risk losing all
the jobs when companies go down because of the high cost of keeping all
the jobs for Americans only," said Sathpathy.

But in the present economic environment and widespread joblessness,
particularly in the hi-tech sector, populism seems to be the order of
the day. Speaking to India-West, Lesley Sillaman, press secretary to
DeLauro, said that the Connecticut representative has nothing against
the L-1 visa, and that she recognizes the companies' need to transfer
employees for training and other purposes. The bill, Sillaman said,
only seeks to prevent the visa's misuse, that too at the expense of
American workers.

Rep. DeLauro's legislative proposal, for instance, comes close on the
heels of Florida Congressman John Mica's bill introduced last month in
the US House of Representatives, seeking to ban outsourcing of L-1 visa
holders to client sites (I-W, May 30).

According to news reports, three of the top Indian software services
companies - TCS, Infosys and Wipro - together had 7,000 H1-B and 5,600
L-1 visa holders last fiscal year, making for a total of 12,600.

It remains to be seen if either of these legislations will appeal to
the House in full or in part considering the fact there is a widespread
political and corporate consensus behind outsourcing.

Last week, legislation to ban outsourcing of government work to foreign
countries - the Inbound Call Center Bill -- proposed by New Jersey
State Senator Shirley K. Turner, was withdrawn after the Democratic
Caucus voted against it. The Republican Caucus had earlier vetoed it
unanimously.

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