Bipartisan bill reintroduced to raise hiring standards and restrict eligibility under the H-1B and L-1 visa programs.
The move follows Trump’s $100,000 H-1B application fee and scrutiny of firms like Amazon, Google, and Meta.
The top Republican and Democrat on the US Senate Judiciary Committee on September 29 revived a bipartisan bill aimed at tightening rules governing the H-1B and L-1 visa programs, which they claim have been misused by corporations against American workers.
The move comes amid heightened scrutiny after the Trump administration earlier in September implemented a $100,000 fee on new H-1B applications.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Democratic ranking member Dick Durbin of Illinois said the legislation would raise wage and hiring standards, require public job postings and narrow visa eligibility criteria.
While the H-1B program allows US employers to hire skilled foreign workers, largely from India and China, the L-1 visa is used by multinational companies to transfer staff from overseas. The senators also disclosed they had written to 10 major companies — including Amazon, Google and Meta — questioning their reliance on visa hires while laying off US staff.
“Congress created the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes as limited pathways for businesses to acquire top talent when it can't be found at home. But over the years, many employers have used them to cut out American workers in favour of cheap foreign labor,” Grassley said.
The legislation, originally floated in 2007, has additional bipartisan backing, with Senators Tommy Tuberville, Richard Blumenthal and Bernie Sanders among its cosponsors.
