Brian4Liberty
04-02-2015, 04:03 PM
American Tech Workers Would Compete With Hundreds of Thousands of New Guest Workers Under Obama’s L-1B Visa Proposal
President Obama has proposed unilateral changes in the L-1B visa program that would bring in hundreds of thousands of new foreign guest workers that would compete with or displace American tech workers. Obama claims his proposal will “benefit our entire economy and spur additional investment,” but it could add to the unemployment lines while doing little to increase foreign investment.
Under the existing L-1B program, a foreign company with offices in the United States, or a U.S. company with offices abroad, can move workers in other countries to the U.S. for up to five years. Under this “intra-company transfer” a company can pay L-1B workers much less than American or even H-1B workers because no wage constraints exist. The company is not required to protect American workers, and there is no cap on the number of L-1B workers that can be transferred. The worker must just demonstrate a “specialized knowledge” of the company’s operations.
The president’s proposal would relax the definition of “specialized knowledge.” It would no longer have to be unique to the company and could in fact be generally available within an industry. The proposal also tells U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicators how to evaluate L-1B applications. For example, adjudicators will not be able to ask if American workers are available to do the job. The proposal says "A petitioner is not required to demonstrate the lack of readily available workers to perform the relevant duties in the United States."
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Howard University professor Ron Hira, an expert in L-1B and H-1B visa programs, says the president’s proposal will make an already-abused program worse. "The L-1B is much worse than the H-1B program in terms of its impacts on American workers and the American economy," Hira told the Washington Examiner. "There are no wage standards — foreign workers can be paid home country wages, which is $6,000 a year for an IT worker in India. American workers can be displaced by L-1B workers. There are no recruitment requirements and no educational requirements….[Plus the program is] "subject to virtually no federal scrutiny or oversight. We have no idea how many L-1 visa holders are here at any time. The only reason the L-1B hasn't received any scrutiny from the press is because the government collects virtually no data on who is awarded an L-1B and who they work for."
The proposal could induce companies to switch from the H-1B visa to the L-1B. Immigration attorney Susan Pai, an immigration attorney, told the Examiner “Instead of bringing people in on Hs, they’re going to start bringing them in droves on the L-1s, so that’s bad news for Americans.” She thinks it will lead to much more visa fraud as well.
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President Obama’s proposal is not a regulatory action. It is outlined in a memorandum for which USCIS is accepting comments through May 8th. The memorandum will become effective on August 31, 2015.
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http://www.numbersusa.com/news/american-tech-workers-would-compete-hundreds-thousands-new-guest-workers-under-obama%E2%80%99-l-1b-visa
President Obama has proposed unilateral changes in the L-1B visa program that would bring in hundreds of thousands of new foreign guest workers that would compete with or displace American tech workers. Obama claims his proposal will “benefit our entire economy and spur additional investment,” but it could add to the unemployment lines while doing little to increase foreign investment.
Under the existing L-1B program, a foreign company with offices in the United States, or a U.S. company with offices abroad, can move workers in other countries to the U.S. for up to five years. Under this “intra-company transfer” a company can pay L-1B workers much less than American or even H-1B workers because no wage constraints exist. The company is not required to protect American workers, and there is no cap on the number of L-1B workers that can be transferred. The worker must just demonstrate a “specialized knowledge” of the company’s operations.
The president’s proposal would relax the definition of “specialized knowledge.” It would no longer have to be unique to the company and could in fact be generally available within an industry. The proposal also tells U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicators how to evaluate L-1B applications. For example, adjudicators will not be able to ask if American workers are available to do the job. The proposal says "A petitioner is not required to demonstrate the lack of readily available workers to perform the relevant duties in the United States."
...
Howard University professor Ron Hira, an expert in L-1B and H-1B visa programs, says the president’s proposal will make an already-abused program worse. "The L-1B is much worse than the H-1B program in terms of its impacts on American workers and the American economy," Hira told the Washington Examiner. "There are no wage standards — foreign workers can be paid home country wages, which is $6,000 a year for an IT worker in India. American workers can be displaced by L-1B workers. There are no recruitment requirements and no educational requirements….[Plus the program is] "subject to virtually no federal scrutiny or oversight. We have no idea how many L-1 visa holders are here at any time. The only reason the L-1B hasn't received any scrutiny from the press is because the government collects virtually no data on who is awarded an L-1B and who they work for."
The proposal could induce companies to switch from the H-1B visa to the L-1B. Immigration attorney Susan Pai, an immigration attorney, told the Examiner “Instead of bringing people in on Hs, they’re going to start bringing them in droves on the L-1s, so that’s bad news for Americans.” She thinks it will lead to much more visa fraud as well.
...
President Obama’s proposal is not a regulatory action. It is outlined in a memorandum for which USCIS is accepting comments through May 8th. The memorandum will become effective on August 31, 2015.
...
http://www.numbersusa.com/news/american-tech-workers-would-compete-hundreds-thousands-new-guest-workers-under-obama%E2%80%99-l-1b-visa