Last week Assistant Senate Majority Leader Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced legislation that would completely reform the H-1B and L-1 visa guest worker programs. The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act (S. 887) aims to close perceived loopholes in the programs that critics argue allow foreign workers to displace qualified Americans seeking the same employment.

According to a press release issued by Sen. Durbin:

The H-1B visa program should complement the U.S. workforce, not replace it . . . Congress created the H-1B visa program so an employer could hire a foreign guest-worker when a qualified American worker could not be found. However, the H-1B visa program is plagued with fraud and abuse and is now a vehicle for outsourcing that deprives qualified American workers of their jobs. Our bill will put a stop to the outsourcing of American jobs and discrimination against American workers.

To this end, the new bill would do the following:

• Require all employers who want to hire an H-1B professional to first make a good-faith attempt to recruit a qualified American worker. Employers would be prohibited from using H-1B visa holders to displace qualified American workers.
• Prohibit the practice of advertising “H-1B only” ads and prohibit employers from hiring additional H-1B and L-1 professionals if more than 50% of their employees are H-1B and L-1 visa holders.

To counter the perceived lack of federal oversight of the H-1B program, the new legislation would give the government more authority to conduct employer investigations and streamline the investigative process. Such measures would include:

• Permitting the Department of Labor (DOL) to initiate investigations without a complaint and without the Labor Secretary’s personal authorization;
• Authorizing the DOL to review H-1B applications for fraud;
• Allowing the DOL to conduct random audits of any company that uses the H-1B program; and
• Requiring the DOL to conduct annual audits of companies that employ large numbers of H-1B workers.

As for reforming the L-1 program, which allows companies to transfer certain employees from their foreign facilities to their U.S. offices for up to seven years, the new bill would establish for the first time a process to investigate, audit and penalize L-1 visa abuses.

This bill has been referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary.