High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017
Feb 06, 2017
I'm a big fan of her bill for the above (market-based) approach and other reasons:- F-1 student visa becomes dual-intent. This is huge! Essentially an employer could now sponsor permanent residency directly out of a PhD program (or even college assuming sufficient work experience for employment-based immigration). No need to first get a H-1B.
- It appears that switching employers while on the H-1B becomes easier (the new employer must only submit the Labor Condition Application). This will provide mobility to H-1B workers and therefore not suppress wages.
- 20% of H-1B visas are set aside for startups and small businesses, and to prevent these from becoming subsidiaries of outsourcing firms the H-1B holder may not be working at a 3rd party worksite for more than 30 days.
- H-1B dependent companies (8 H-1Bs if < 26 employees, 11 H-1Bs if 26-50, 15% of workforce if 50+) either must prove that no US citizen is being displaced, or they must pay at least the dependent company exemption minimum salary of $130,000.
Note: I'm a former Math & Comp Sci (double major) international student (F-1 visa) from a top tier school, then H-1B, permanent resident, and this week (!) will become a citizen.
Bill Summary: https://lofgren.house.gov/uploadedfiles/high_skilled_bill_sx...
Jan 31, 2017
Draft text of the bill: https://lofgren.house.gov/uploadedfiles/high_skilled_bill_sx...
Jan 31, 2017
Your point stands, I just wanted to note that the wage level was established in 1998, not 1989. There is a typo in this article, possibly misread from the bill summary https://lofgren.house.gov/uploadedfiles/high_skilled_bill_sx...
Jan 31, 2017
Here is the summary straight from the horses mouth: https://lofgren.house.gov/uploadedfiles/high_skilled_bill_sx...A few points:
- This does not raise the salary requirement to $130k/yr. This only applies to employers that do not want to do the extra paper work for "attestations regarding recruitment and non-displacement of U.S. workers"
- It takes a "market based" allocation strategy which allows "cash bonuses and similar compensation" to be included. This is a joke.
- Startups and small businesses will get 20% of the visas. It'll be interesting to see how this is gamed
- This does not fix the Corporate/Higher Ed partnership loophole
- This does not fix the power imbalance between visa holders and employers
I personally don't see this bill going anywhere. Zoe just needs to look like she is doing something.