Thursday, March 16, 2000 - Representatives Dreier and Lofgren Expected to Shortly Introduce Bi-Partisan H-1B Legislation
A bi-partisan group of Representatives, led by David Dreier (R-CA) , Chair of the House Rules Committee, and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) are expected to shortly introduce the “Helping to Improve Technology Education and Achievement” or “HI-TECH Act.” ( The bill number will be available upon introduction.)The bill has strong bi-partisan support of such key members as Representatives Tom Davis (R-VA), the chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee, and Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
The bill would increase the limit on H-1B visas to 200,000 for FY2001, 2002 and 2003 , and would “set aside” 10,000 of the 200,000 visas for employees of higher educational institutions, and government and non-profit research institutions, and 60,000 visas for individuals who hold masters or higher degrees (or their equivalent).
The bill also would deal with problems resulting from the per-country limits in business immigration by allowing unused visas to spill over to oversubscribed countries.
Another provision in the bill allows applying “carryover visas” from FY1999 that were counted against the FY2000 cap back to FY1999, thereby having fewer carryovers for this year.
Finally, the bill would increase the fee for initial petitions from $500 to $1,000. The full text of the bill and a section-by-section with AILA comments will be posted as soon as they are available.
AILA strongly supports this bill, while concerned about the impact of an increased fee on non-profits, small businesses and state and local governments that are increasingly using the H-1B program.
Because of the strong bi-partisan support for this bill, and the support of Democratic and Republican party leadership, it is likely that this bill will be this session's House H-1B vehicle.
