A new bill that calls for more stringent norms in the H-1B visa program has been introduced in the United States House of Representatives.
The proposed act, the American Tech Workforce Act of 2021, calls to end the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program. The OPT program primarily benefits big tech companies by providing tax breaks and hiring workers at a lower cost.
Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks introduced the Bill as part of a Republican Study Committee Initiative to hold Big Tech accountable. Before moving to the Senate, House has to approve the Bill.
“Big Tech is setting aside some of the most lucrative and valuable career opportunities in America and giving them exclusively to foreign guest workers. They’re cutting out Americans to save a few bucks. It’s domestic outsourcing,” Banks said in a statement.
“This shocking disregard for American workers and their role in our nation’s future is unpatriotic. We must fix Big Tech’s incentives, so they begin putting Americans first,” he added.
The Bill proposes to prioritise giving visas to employers who pay higher wages and limiting the ability of big tech firms to contract with third-party workers. It also intends to set a wage floor for H-1B visas at $110,000, reported the Economic Times.
The Bill would limit the validity of visas for H-1B workers sponsored by third-party companies to one year instead of three years, which is the norm.
“In 2019, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, IBM and Apple were six of the top eight initial approval recipients of H-1B visas. This group has been in the top of the approved recipients pool since at least 2014,” said Banks.
The American Tech Workforce Act is supported by American Principles Project (APP), the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), and NumbersUSA.
“The Bill corrects some glaring flaws in the H-1B program, which has had a severely detrimental effect on the job opportunities and wages of American workers. It also ends OPT, a program that allows Big Tech companies to hire foreign students over American students after they graduate,” said RJ Hauman, Director of Government Relations and Communications, FAIR. “Remember, immigration policymaking should not be solely focused on border security, but also protecting American workers from unfair com
