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Tuesday, October 03, 2000 - Highlights of H-1B Visa Bill

By The Associated Press

The high-tech visa bill passed by the Senate would:

-Raise the number of new six-year H-1B visas that the Immigration and Naturalization Service can issue annually to 195,000 for the next three years.

-Foreigners who received at least a master's degree from a U.S. college or university, or who work for a U.S. institution of higher education, would be exempted from the cap.

-Extend a $500 fee for each visa. The fees are projected to generate $450 million over the three years to pay for 60,000 scholarships for U.S. students and training programs for 150,000 U.S. workers.

-For delays of a year or more in INS processing, the bill allows extensions for workers to remain in the country while employers work on their behalf to obtain other types of visas.

-The Department of Labor would be responsible for investigating the program. Fraudulently obtained visas would be returned to the pool available.