[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8629]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE OF NEW VISA FEES

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. STEVEN R. ROTHMAN

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 2, 2011

  Mr. ROTHMAN of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to your 
attention an unintended consequence brought on when we enacted last 
year's emergency supplemental appropriations bill to fund additional 
border resources--H.R. 6080, the Emergency Border Security Supplemental 
Appropriations Act.
  This bill was fully paid for by imposing additional fees for new H-1B 
and L-1 visas on a select group of companies. Specifically, the 
companies impacted are those with more than 50 employees, and with a US 
workforce in which more than 50% are on a professional temporary visa--
basically the H-1B and L-1 visas. While, I applaud the intent of this 
provision to incentivize job creation at home, I would like to express 
my concern about the implementation of the additional visa fees.
  These fees were meant to be targeted at companies who utilize H-1B 
and L-1 visas at very high levels for the purpose of building their 
employees' proficiencies in IT, so that they can take this knowledge 
and the work back to their home countries. It turns out however, that 
some US companies are being impacted by these fee increases because 
many of their professionals are stuck in green card backlogs and in the 
meantime remain in temporary visa status.
  In his remarks at the time of Senate passage of H.R. 6080, Senator 
Charles Schumer commented that, when the H-1B visa program is used as a 
stepping-stone for skilled immigrants to obtain permanent resident 
status, it is ``a good program for everyone involved. It is good for 
the company. It is good for the worker. And it is good for the American 
people who benefit from the products and jobs created by the innovation 
of the H-1B visa holder.''
  I agree with Senator Schumer's remarks, and encourage my colleagues 
to work with me on a technical fix that would ensure that the 
implementation of this bill is consistent with these policy goals. The 
clearest way to achieve these goals would be to exempt from the so-
called ``50/50'' calculation any H-1B or L-1 worker who has sought to 
acquire permanent residence by taking steps to file or is the 
beneficiary of a pending or approved application for alien employment 
certification with the Department of Labor, or a pending or approved 
immigrant petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 
Those H-1B and L-1 workers are best defined as `intending immigrants,' 
as they relinquish their nonimmigrant intent when their employers 
pursue a Green Card application on their behalf.
  We should not punish companies that are doing the right thing by 
investing considerable resources to sponsor professionals for permanent 
resident visas. They are building a highly skilled workforce in the US 
within technical specialties in which few American workers with 
applicable skills exist. This is something we need to do if we are 
going to grow out of our current economic difficulties.
  I suggested to the Secretary of Homeland Security that she consider 
making the technical fix as part of regulatory guidance on this new 
fee. The Department later informed me that such a fix required 
congressional action.
  I raise this issue Mr. Speaker, because it is my hope that we can 
work with our colleagues in the Senate to ensure that companies that 
are trying to do the right thing are not unintentionally hurt by this 
provision. Since this unintended consequence was caused by a provision 
in an appropriations bill, I hope that we can make the necessary 
technical fix on an appropriations bill at the appropriate time.

                          ____________________