Hawkeye Reporter

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) have reintroduced bipartisan legislation aimed at reforming the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. The proposed H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act seeks to address fraud and abuse in these immigration pathways, increase protections for both American workers and visa holders, and improve transparency in the recruitment of foreign labor.

Grassley and Durbin have worked together on similar reforms since 2007. Recently, they sent letters to ten major U.S. employers—including Amazon, Google, and Meta—questioning their use of H-1B visas while conducting large-scale layoffs of American employees.

“Congress created the H-1B and L-1 visa programs 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 favor of cheap foreign labor. Congress must step in again to bring integrity back to these programs and restore dignity for American and foreign workers,” Grassley said. “There’s bipartisan acknowledgement that these programs ought to be returned to their intended purpose. Our bill would make that shared goal a reality.”

“Major companies are laying off thousands of American workers while filing thousands of visa petitions for foreign workers at depressed wages and poor working conditions. Congress must step in to protect American workers and fix our broken immigration system. Senator Grassley and I will work to make this bipartisan bill the law of the land,” Durbin stated.

The bill is also supported by Senators Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

The H-1B and L-1 visa programs were originally designed so U.S. companies could hire highly skilled noncitizens when qualified domestic candidates were unavailable. However, concerns have been raised about employers misusing these visas by replacing U.S. workers with less expensive foreign labor or subjecting foreign employees to lower wages or unfavorable conditions.

Foreign nationals holding H-1B or L-1 status often depend on a single employer for their temporary residency in the United States, which can leave them vulnerable—especially those waiting for green cards who must maintain their status during lengthy backlogs.

Key provisions in the proposed legislation include new wage standards, recruitment processes, attestation requirements for hiring H-1B or L-1 employees, mandatory job postings on a Department of Labor website accessible by both U.S. citizens and laid-off H-1B holders, expanded authority for DOL including fees dedicated toward hiring additional staff, prioritization of higher education levels especially in STEM fields when issuing visas, revised definitions around specialty occupations requiring at least a bachelor’s degree, stricter guidelines on petitions from new offices abroad under the L-1 program with increased cooperation from the State Department on verification matters, as well as tougher penalties such as fines or debarment against employers violating wage rules.