Cornyn introduces another H-1B increase bill to Senate

Date: Monday, April 14, 2008 6:12 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1854 -- 4/14/2008 >>>>>

Have any of you noticed that so many of the proposed visa increases lately are
now being called national emergencies? First, we had the massive de facto H-1B
increase that the DHS approved to extend the Optional Practical Training time
period. Now we have a bill introduced by Sen. Cornyn that he says is
"emergency relief" for employers. Why doesn't Cornyn feel that his
constituents need emergency job creation?

Sen. Cornyn (R-TX) introduced "Global Competitiveness Act of 2008" in the
Senate (S. 2839). The text of S. 2839 has not yet been released, but the
immigration lawyers seem to have all the information (see below). Of course
that's probably because they wrote the bill.

Cornyn's bill has three co-sponsors. The are:
Sen. Judd Gregg [R-NH]
Sen. Charles Hagel [R-NE]
Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I-CT]

As of this writing, there are 3 House Bills and 2 Senate bills to expand H-1B
and employment based (EB) green cards. I predict that the massive number of
foreign students that get OPT extensions will be used to justify these bills.
There is extreme danger that Congress could meet in conference and ram one of
these increases through simply by putting one or two of the bills together in
some kind of bi-partisan coalition.

The Cornyn bill contains what may appear to be a restriction on how bodyshops
use H-1B visas. Don't be fooled -- bodyshops aren't the most important issue -
- the number of visas available is far more important.
Cornyn was very clever to insert this provision into the bill in order to
split the opposition. It won't stop bodyshops from operating in the U.S.
but it might inconvenience them a little since they will have to change how
they bill their work.

Cornyn's bill also has some verbiage to enforce the law against fraud. As I
have explained before, fraud isn't a major problem in the H-1B visa program,
so the provisions he is offering will do nothing to help American workers
against the huge onslaught of foreigners he wants to import.

NumbersUSA has a fax to oppose this bill. I would highly recommend you send it
out.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

INTRODUCTION OF BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - April 10, 2008)

[Page: S2944]

By Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. GREGG, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mr. HAGEL):

S . 2839 . A bill to provide emergency relief for United States businesses

and industries currently employing temporary foreign workers and for other
purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.immigration-law.com/

04/14/2008: Sen. Cornyn (TX) Introduced Global Competitivess Act of 2008 in
the Senate on 04/10/2008

Last Thursday, Senator Cornyn from Texas introduced this bill , S. 2839, which
has been referred for action to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The following
is the outlines of the bill as prepared by the Senator:

H-2B Temporary Worker Program
Extends the H-2B Returning Worker provisions for 3 fiscal years

H-1B Temporary Worker Program
Recaptures 150,000 unused H-1B visas which will be distributed over a 3 year
period Imposes a H-1B recapture fee of $1,500 Increases H-1B visa levels from
65,000 to 115,000 for fiscal years 2009 through 2011 Increases the advanced
degree cap for H-1B workers with masters degrees or higher from 20k to 30k for
fiscal years 2009 to 2011 Increases the H-1B petition fee from $1,500 to
$2,250 Employment Based Visas

Recaptures approximately 218,000 unused employment-based visas Distributes
61,000 of the recaptured EB visas to nurses and physical therapists (and
spouses and children accompanying or following to join) Imposes an EB visa
recapture fee of $1,500 Exempts health care facilities in underserved areas
from paying the additional EB recapture fee

Prohibitions on Outsourcing and H-1B Only Recruiting Requires U.S. employers
to provide prospective H-1B applications with a copy of their approved H-1B
petition Requires all U.S. employers to agree not to advertise the jobs solely
to H-1B or indicate that H-1B workers will be given priority Prohibits U.S.
employers from outsourcing the labor of an H-1B worker by requiring that the
alien work only at the worksite of the employer or its affiliates and
subsidiaries in the United States Bars U.S. employers who have an employee
total that includes more than 50% H-1B workers from filing more than 1,000 H-
1B petitions in a given fiscal year Sunsets advertising and outsourcing
provisions in 3 years

Early Adjustment Provisions
Authorizes aliens who are seeking permanent employment-based visas to file for
adjustment of status early if the visa number availability date shown on the
State Department Visa bulletin is no more than 24 months out from the date of
filing Imposes an additional $500 fee for early adjustment filing Revises
distribution of fees to increase funding of STEM scholarship programs

H and L Enforcement Provisions
Authorizing DHS and DOL to investigate H and L visa fraud Revising the
conditions that will result in finding a violation of the provisions of a
labor condition application Requires information and document sharing between
DHS and DOL for H and L fraud investigations and noncompliance Increases
frequencies of H and L program audits Doubles the penalties for violations of
the labor condition application provisions Adds whistleblower protections for
L workers, including requiring back-pay for those harmed by an employer
violation Limits eligibility for L intra-company transferee status for aliens
working with start-up companies

Miscellaneous Provisions
Extends E-Verify authorization
Modifies the H and L fraud account provisions to allow USCIS flexibility in
terms of use of funds for benefit fraud investigations Please stay tuned to
this webside for the development of this bill in the Senate Judiciary
Committee.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Newsletter Homepage:
http://www.JobDestruction.com/shameh1b/JobDestructionNews.htm

Support this Newsletter and www.JobDestruction.com by donating:
www.zazona.com/Donations.htm

To Be removed from this mailing list, reply to this email with UNSUbSCRIBE in
the subject window

Back to archives