Gang of Eight: Eight Killer Provisions.

US IMMIGRATON REFORM BILL

1. Ban on client site placement for H-1B Workers.

Under this any H-1B dependent employer (a company with more than 15 per cent of its workforce on H-1Bs), would be flatly prohibited from placing H-1B workers at client sites or contracting for the services of those workers.

2. Restrictions on client site placement for L-1 workers.

As a result of this an Indian IT Company would not be able to place L-1 workers (whether specialized or managerial) at client sites (the US company) unless the company supervised and controlled those workers and the parent US company attests that for 90 days before and after the L-1 petition filing it had not laid off any employees in the same area performing similar job duties.

3. Limit on total percentage of H-1B and L-1 Workers.

Under this the immigration bill would impose a hard limit on the percentage of H-1B and L-1 workers that could make up a company's workforce in the US. Being enforced in three phases, the limits would be no more than 75 per cent from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015; no more than 65 per cent from October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2016, and no more than 50 per cent from October 1, 2016 onwards.

4. Increase in certain categories of H-1B visas that are targeting Indian IT companies.

A company with more than 50 per cent H-1B or L-1 workers currently pays an additional fee of $2,250 for L-1 petitions and USD 2,000 for H-1B petitions. Under the comprehensive immigration bill proposals, the additional fee would rise to $5,000 beginning in fiscal 2015 through 2024 for employers with more than 30 per cent and less than 50 per cent H-1B and L-1B workers. For fiscal year 2015 through 2017, there would be a $10,000 fee for employers with more than 50 per cent and less than 75 per cent H-1B and L-1B workers.

5. The Unworkable Intending Immigrants Exception.

"Intending immigrants," is defined as those employees for whom the green card process had been started by the company, would count as US workers and would not count toward the H-1B or L-1 population for purposes of determining percentages. With a sufficient number of intending immigrants, a global IT company could conceivably bring its population percentage low enough to avoid the additional fees, and perhaps even low enough to avoid being H-1B dependent.

6. The subsequent required wage increases.

Under the proposals H-1B dependent employers would have to pay H-1B workers no less than the mean wage for the occupation, even if the role is entry-level. This would cause a spiraling effect on the rest of the wage scales, and the wage increases would be substantial, experts note. For example, the required wage for an entry level Systems Analyst would increase from about $59,000 per annum year to $92,000 per year.

7. H-1B recruitment and job offer requirements.

Under which prior to filing any H-1B petition, an Indian IT company would be required to recruit for US workers using industry standard recruitment as well as posting on a DOL website, and it would be required to offer the job to any equally or better qualified US worker at the same rate it would have to pay the H-1B worker. Under this the US Department of Labor would have authority to review hiring decisions, and the Indian IT companies would need to be able to justify on an applicant-by-applicant basis why individual US worker applicants were not equally or better qualified than a particular H-1B worker.

8. Significant expansion of government audits and enforcement authority

Under which the Department of Labor would be required to conduct annual compliance audits of all H-1B dependent employers. Not only this the Department of Homeland Security would be required to conduct annual audits of all companies with a workforce with more than 15 per cent of workers in L-1 status.