On May 20, 2004, Representative Henry J. Hyde (IL-6) introduced H.R. 4415 – the Save American Jobs Through L Visa Reform Act of 2004.  The bill proposes to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to eliminate the L-1B “specialized knowledge” basis for obtaining nonimmigrant status as an intracompany transferee and to impose an annual numerical limitation on nonimmigrant visas for such transferees.

The text of the bill states that testimony given on February 4, 2004 at a hearing of the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives “indicated that there is widespread abuse by companies subcontracting to other companies nonimmigrants who obtained status under the Immigration and Nationality Act by satisfying the requirements for intracompany transferees with ‘specialized knowledge’”.  Evidence of abuse cited in the text includes the displacement of US citizens by nonimmigrants and nonimmigrants that claimed to possess “specialized knowledge” but actually did not possess this knowledge at the time they entered the U.S.  The bill also draws attention to the fact that in fiscal year 2003, 57,245 intracompany transferee visas were issued.

If passed, the bill would amend the INA by replacing the phrase “managerial, executive or involves specialized knowledge” with “managerial or executive”.  The bill would also impose an annual cap of 35,000 intracompany transferee visas.

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary and to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.