Skilled Worker Immigration and Fairness Act

A bill to increase the allocation of visas for certain highly skilled workers and to reduce fraud and abuse in certain visa programs for aliens working temporarily in the United States.

5/15/2007--Introduced.
Skilled Worker Immigration and Fairness Act - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to exempt from the annual H-1B (specialty occupation/fashion models) visa cap an alien who has:
(1) earned a master's or higher degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics from an institution of higher education outside of the United States; or
(2) been awarded a medical specialty certification based on post-doctoral training and experience in the United States.
Sets H-1B annual limits at:
(1) 115,000 for FY2007; and
(2) for each subsequent fiscal year, the greater of 115,000 or a market-based calculation.
Exempts from numerical limitations on employment-based immigrants:
(1) aliens who have earned advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math and have been working in their fields in the United States under a nonimmigrant visa in the three years prior to filing for adjustment;
(2) recipients of national interest waivers; and
(3) immediate relatives of employment-based immigrants. Permits an alien (and dependents) to file for adjustment of status whether or not an employment-based immigrant visa is immediately available if:
(1) a petition on behalf of the alien has been approved; or
(2) adjudication of such petition is pending. Revises H-1B provisions with respect to:
(1) application fraud and misrepresentation;
(2) employer penalties;
(3) Department of Labor investigations;
(4) Department of Labor and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) information sharing;
(5) information provided to an H-1B nonimmigrant upon visa issuance;
(6) prohibiting H-1B-exclusive employment advertising; and
(7) prohibiting an employer of fewer than 50 employees in the United States from having more than 50% H-1B nonimmigrant employees.


... morehide bill summarySee Full Bill Text

Sponsor

• Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT]
• and 3 Co-Sponsors
  • Sen. Maria Cantwell [D, WA]
  • Sen. Charles Hagel [R, NE]
  • Sen. George Voinovich [R, OH]
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Committees

• Senate Judiciary

Amendments

This bill has no amendments.

Amendments to S.1397

Number	Status	Purpose

Bill Status

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Introduced		Voted on by Senate		Voted on by House		Considered By President		Bill Becomes Law
May 15, 2007

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All Bill Actions

• May 15, 2007: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
• Introduced on May 15, 2007.

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Related Issue Areas:

• Immigration
• Admission of nonimmigrants
• Advertising
• Alien labor
• 15 more
• Employers' liability
• Engineers
• Foreign-trained physicians
• Fraud
• Immigrants
• Infrastructure
• Labor
• Medical care
• Medicine
• Physicians
• Recruiting of employees
• Science policy
• Scientists
• Skilled labor
• Visas

Data from the Congressional Research Service

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Blog Coverage

May 14, 2007 Bill Action: Introduced: S. 1397: A bill to increase the ...

Joseph Lieberman [I-CT] introduced S. 1397: A bill to increase the allocation of visas for certain highly skilled workers and to reduce fraud and abuse in certain visa programs for aliens working temporarily in the United States. ...

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