US senators reintroduce bill to reform H-1B, L-1 visa rules as Trump fee fuels scrutiny

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(Reuters) -The top Republican and Democrat on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday reintroduced legislation to tighten rules on the H-1B and L-1 worker visa programs, targeting what they called loopholes and abuse by major employers.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Democratic ranking member Dick Durbin of Illinois said the bill tightens rules by raising wage and hiring standards, mandating public job postings, and narrowing visa eligibility, among others.

The H-1B visa program, widely used by the U.S. technology sector to hire skilled workers from India and China, has been under the spotlight after the Trump administration earlier this month imposed a $100,000 fee on new applications.

Unlike the H-1B program for skilled foreign hires, the L-1 visa allows multinational companies to transfer existing employees from overseas offices to the U.S.

The two senators, who first introduced similar legislation in 2007, said they sent letters last week to 10 major U.S. employers including Amazon.com, Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms scrutinizing their reliance on H-1B visas while laying off staff.

The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“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,” Grassley said in a statement.

U.S. Senators Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, are among the original cosponsors of the legislation.

(Reporting by Aditya Soni in San Francisco; Editing by Bill Berkrot)