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H-1B BILL INTRODUCED BY CHAIR OF HOUSE IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE
Rep. Lamar Smith, the chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, has introduced a bill that would provide a temporary increase in the number of H-1B visas available during fiscal year 2000, which ends September 1, 2000.  Before people begin to think Rep. Smith has turned pro-immigration, they should realize that the proposal contains many restrictions on the visas, restrictions that may significantly curtail the usefulness and availability of the visas.  
The press release from Rep. Smith’s office, as well as his summary of the provisions of the bill, is available on our website at http://www.visalaw.com/docs/lamar2.html.  Some of the most important points of the bill are summarized below. 
The bill, called the Technology Worker Temporary Relief Act, would add 45,000 visas to the total available this year, making a total of 160,000 H-1B visas available.  While at first this seems like great news, the press release indicates that Rep. Smith intends some of these visas to be used to compensate for the alleged 20,000 visas that were improperly issued last year.  So it is possible that only 25,000 new visas will be available. 
Responsibility for counting H-1B visas issued annually will be transferred from the INS to the State Department. 
For an employer to be able to use the additional visas to be made available, the employer must show that in the previous year it increased the number of US workers it employs, that it has increased the total wages paid to US workers, and that it has increased the average wage paid to each US worker. 
Many aspects of the H-1B program would be fundamentally changed under Rep. Smith’s bill.  Among these changes are the following: 
H-1B workers can no longer work part time 
The employee must have a bachelor’s or higher degree (experience will no longer be able to substitute for education) and the degree must be in the field in which the employee will work 
To petition for an H-1B worker, the employer must have gross assets of over  million 
A new 0 fee will be charged for each petition.  This money shall be used to prevent fraud in the H-1B program 
The current 0 fee will be increased to 00 
The bill would also provide for expedited processing for a fee of 0.  However, only a tiny percentage of US employers will be eligible for this benefit.  Under this scheme, the INS must provide an approval or denial within 30 days of the submission of the petition.  To qualify for expedited processing the employer must meet the following requirements: 
It must have been in business for a minimum of five years, and over the last two years must have had 0,000,000 in gross sales.  The rule does except schools, government bodies, and nonprofit research organizations. 
It cannot be H-1B dependent 
It must have never committed a willful violation of H-1B rules or had an H-1B visa revoked or denied because of fraud, and 
Not have violated any H-1B regulations in the past five years 
Perhaps the biggest problem with the bill is that it will not become effective until final regulations for the 1998 H-1B act become final.  Given the time that it takes to develop and publish regulations, particularly for a bill as complex as that one, it is entirely possible that they will not be published until fiscal year 2000 is over, rendering Rep. Smith’s bill useless.