New US bill calls for H-1B reform, end of Optional Practical Training program

A new immigration in the United States has called for more stringent norms in the H-1B visa program, used by companies to address gaps in high-skill labour.

The American Tech Workforce Act of 2021, proposed in the US House of Representatives, calls to end the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program as it mostly benefits big tech companies by providing tax breaks and allowing them to hire workers at a lower cost.

The Bill was introduced by Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks as part of a Republican Study Committee Initiative to hold Big Tech accountable, it said.

It will have to first be approved by the House, and then the Senate before it can be signed into law.

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“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 set a wage floor for H-1B visas at the higher end of the annual wage paid to an American worker for that position, or $110,000, prioritising giving visas to employers who pay higher wages and limiting the ability of big tech firms to contract with third-party workers.

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), 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 competition.”