Washington: A key Congressional committee has passed a legislation that proposes to increase the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders from $6,00,000 to $90,000 and imposes a number of restrictions on the work visa that is popular among Indian IT professionals. The Protect and Grow American Jobs Act (HR 170) introduced by Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet subcommittee — was passed by the House Judiciary Committee during a markup hearing on Thursday. The Bill now heads to the full House for necessary action.
A similar version of the Bill needs to be passed by the Senate before it can be sent to the White House for the US President Donald Trump to be signed into law. Given the sharp differences that the Democratic and Republcian lawmakers and the White House has on various aspects of immigration reform including H-1B, the Congressional passage of the Bill and its becoming a law as of now appears to be a tall order. The Bill prohibits H-1B dependent employers from replacing American workers with H-1B employees, there are no longer any exceptions. It also lengthens the no-layoff policy for H-1B dependent employers and their client companies.
