New Senate bill seeks sweeping H-1B changes

CIO:  A new bill in Congress would give foreign students who graduate from U.S. schools priority in getting an H-1B visa.

The legislation also "explicitly prohibits" the replacement of American workers by visa holders.

 This bill, the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, was announced Thursday by its co-sponsors, U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), longtime allies on H-1B reform. Grassley is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which gives this bill an immediate big leg up in the legislative process.

This legislation would end the annual random distribution, via a lottery, of H-1B visas, and replace it with a system to give priority to certain types of students.

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