House Introduces Two L-1 Visa Bills

Members of the House of Representatives have introduced two pieces of legislation that seek to tighten L-1 visa rules. The following is a summary of the major provisions in each of the bills:

The Mica Bill

• H.R. 2154
• The bill seeks to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to restrict an L-1 sponsoring employer from placing an employee with another employer
• Employers would be required to file an attestation with the Department of Labor stating that it is not placing employees with other employer

The DeLauro Bill

• H.R. 2702
• Entitled "The L-1 Nonimmigrant Reform Act"
• Contains new prevailing wage requirement similar to H-1B rules except wages must be a level 2 wage
• Similar work conditions attestations as H-1B Labor Condition Application
• The employer must attest that it has not displaced workers within 180 days before filing or 180 days after filing the L-1
• The employer may not outsource, lease or contract for the placement of the worker at any outside firm
• Employers violating the attestation rules, like H-1B employers, subject to one year debarment on L-1 filings
• Employers cannot make employees pay a financial penalty for leaving a contract early
• No benching permitted
• Limit of 35,000 L-1s per year
• Worker retraining fee from H-1B program extended to L-1 visas as well
• L-1 blanket petitions would no longer be permitted
• specialized knowledge L-1B workers would need bachelors degrees
• employment must have taken place in the two years prior to admission

The Mica bill is certainly the one of the two bills that would change the program the least. There is no evidence that using L-1s as contract workers has been widespread in any case. The DeLauro bill would basically turn the L-1 visa into a visa category that mirrors the H-1B program. It would dramatically shrink the L-1 program by setting a 35,000 cap which is about half the number of L-1s issued this past year and impose new large fees. The bill will no doubt be considered one of the more extreme immigration bills coming up this year in Congress.