URGENT:No More EAD renewals, No More H1Bs for some: Employ America Act

[pappu]

WAKE UP CALL FOR THOSE STILL SITTING ON THE SIDELINES

On Tuesday, when we were on the Hill doing meetings during Advocacy days, we were informed by the senior Senate office that an amendment to prevent H1 and work authorizations is in the works in the Tax bill. We immediately requested this office to oppose this amendment. Senator office expressed full support for us and shared with us that the Senator's office has already expressed opposition to such an amendment.

We would like everyone to know that just because someone has EAD, it does not mean we are in safe haven. There is no safe haven till we have approved green cards. And for those who think that they don't need to participate actively, this is a wake up call.

We have also learned that this is degree 1 amendment. This means it will be voted on on the Senate floor even when it is non-germane to the bill. We have also learned that if such an amendment comes up for vote during this difficult political climate, it appears that such an amendment will have 70 votes in the senate which makes each one of us extremely vulnerable to be forced out. Everyone on H1, L1, J1 or EAD will risk the renewal of their current application status.

IV is working on defeating this amendment. Please stay tuned for further updates.

On Tuesday, Mr. Sanders sponsored an amendment S.AMDT.4319 in bill H.R.4213

AMENDMENT PURPOSE: Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
TEXT OF AMENDMENT AS SUBMITTED: CR S4754
COSPONSORS(2):
Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] - 6/9/2010
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA] - 6/9/2010

Source: Congressional Record - 111th Congress (2009-2010) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

SA 4319. Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. Grassley, and Mr. Harkin) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 4213, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend certain expiring provisions, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.

(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Employ America Act''.

(b) In General.--The Secretary of Homeland Security may not approve a petition by an employer for any visa authorizing employment in the United States unless the employer has provided written certification, under penalty of perjury, to the Secretary of Labor that--

(1) the employer has not provided a notice of a mass layoff pursuant to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.) during the 12-month period immediately preceding the date on which the alien is scheduled to be hired; and

(2) the employer does not intend to provide a notice of a mass layoff pursuant to such Act.

(c) Effect of Mass Layoff.--If an employer provides a notice of a mass layoff pursuant to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act after the approval of a visa described in subsection (b), any visas approved during the most recent 12-month period for such employer shall expire on the date that is 60 days after the date on which such notice is provided. The expiration of a visa under this subsection shall not be subject to judicial review.

(d) Notice Requirement.--Upon receiving notification of a mass layoff from an employer, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall inform each employee whose visa is scheduled to expire under subsection (c)--

(1) the date on which such individual will no longer be authorized to work in the United States; and

(2) the date on which such individual will be required to leave the United States unless the individual is otherwise authorized to remain in the United States.

(e) Exemption.--An employer shall be exempt from the requirements under this section if the employer provides written certification, under penalty of perjury, to the Secretary of Labor that the total number of the employer's workers who are United States citizens and are working in the United States have not been, and will not be, reduced as a result of a mass layoff described in subsection (c).

(f) Rulemaking.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Labor shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section, including a requirement that employers provide notice to the Secretary of Homeland Security of a mass layoff (as defined in section 2 of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101)).

[ak_2006]

Thanks Pappu to bring this to every notice of IV Community. It looks like they want to send every body out except citizens or GC holders.

[svr_76]

I dont want to undermine the need of the hour to contribute to IV/other efforts however-

From the content it appears the DHS secretary may not approve "a petition by an employer" for "any visa" authorizing employment in the United States unless the employer has provided written certification.

This means that H1B and I-140 filed by any employer cannot be approved if they have not provided written certification regarding Layoffs. This further enforce Labor Certification and clients who are laying offing citizen/perm and then replacing them with H1B holder.

EAD renewals are not "Visa" filed by employer that authorize employment. So I think that is excluded.


What this seems to target are companies that layoff existing US employee citizen and immidiately replace/hire ppl on H1B or file labor certification/I140 for others. (e.g. Microsoft other companies which are replacing existing employees with H1B - for lower pay?).

[hpandey]

I think we should also work on making sure that Mr Grassley et al don't get elected to the Senate the next time so that they are not able to bring these useless racist amendments. They will only realize it when it will hurt them politically. All the H1b's and AOS people have relatives or friends who are well qualified to vote . They should encourage everyone to vote against these bigoted people .

[vbkris77]

This if enacted will get all the so called "non-desi" employees/employers. Remember in last one year there was no major employer without layoffs.

[sriramkalyan]

May be we should do some thing dramatic. Like sending letter to Canadian Government, here we are 1000 skilled people with extensive experience and International degrees. Collectively we going to bring in $1 million or more. Can you expedite our Permanent residency!!

All US senators know that EB immigrants are going through Hell hole of USCIS. They are unable to do anything about it.

[WAIT_FOR_EVER_GC]

Originally Posted by pappu

WAKE UP CALL FOR THOSE STILL SITTING ON THE SIDELINES

On Tuesday, when we were on the Hill doing meetings during Advocacy days, we were informed by the senior Senate office that an amendment to prevent H1 and work authorizations is in the works in the Tax bill. We immediately requested this office to oppose this amendment. Senator office expressed full support for us and shared with us that the Senator's office has already expressed opposition to such an amendment.

We would like everyone to know that just because someone has EAD, it does not mean we are in safe haven. There is no safe haven till we have approved green cards. And for those who think that they don't need to participate actively, this is a wake up call.

We have also learned that this is degree 1 amendment. This means it will be voted on on the Senate floor even when it is non-germane to the bill. We have also learned that if such an amendment comes up for vote during this difficult political climate, it appears that such an amendment will have 70 votes in the senate which makes each one of us extremely vulnerable to be forced out. Everyone on H1, L1, J1 or EAD will risk the renewal of their current application status.

IV is working on defeating this amendment. Please stay tuned for further updates.

On Tuesday, Mr. Sanders sponsored an amendment S.AMDT.4319 in bill H.R.4213

AMENDMENT PURPOSE: Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
TEXT OF AMENDMENT AS SUBMITTED: CR S4754
COSPONSORS(2):
Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] - 6/9/2010
Sen Harkin, Tom [IA] - 6/9/2010

Source: Congressional Record - 111th Congress (2009-2010) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

SA 4319. Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. Grassley, and Mr. Harkin) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 4213, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend certain expiring provisions, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT.

(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``Employ America Act''.

(b) In General.--The Secretary of Homeland Security may not approve a petition by an employer for any visa authorizing employment in the United States unless the employer has provided written certification, under penalty of perjury, to the Secretary of Labor that--

(1) the employer has not provided a notice of a mass layoff pursuant to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.) during the 12-month period immediately preceding the date on which the alien is scheduled to be hired; and

(2) the employer does not intend to provide a notice of a mass layoff pursuant to such Act.

(c) Effect of Mass Layoff.--If an employer provides a notice of a mass layoff pursuant to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act after the approval of a visa described in subsection (b), any visas approved during the most recent 12-month period for such employer shall expire on the date that is 60 days after the date on which such notice is provided. The expiration of a visa under this subsection shall not be subject to judicial review.

(d) Notice Requirement.--Upon receiving notification of a mass layoff from an employer, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall inform each employee whose visa is scheduled to expire under subsection (c)--

(1) the date on which such individual will no longer be authorized to work in the United States; and

(2) the date on which such individual will be required to leave the United States unless the individual is otherwise authorized to remain in the United States.

(e) Exemption.--An employer shall be exempt from the requirements under this section if the employer provides written certification, under penalty of perjury, to the Secretary of Labor that the total number of the employer's workers who are United States citizens and are working in the United States have not been, and will not be, reduced as a result of a mass layoff described in subsection (c).

(f) Rulemaking.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Labor shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section, including a requirement that employers provide notice to the Secretary of Homeland Security of a mass layoff (as defined in section 2 of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (29 U.S.C. 2101)).

What should we do. I am in tell me what I need to do?

[svr_76]

@hpandey : I dont think that this is any "racist" amendment. I think this amendment is more geared towards the perception that Microsoft (US) (and the simmilars) when firing ppl in US fire citizen and "hire" (H1B ppl immediately). I think if at all it needs improvement on what they mean by "same title" as within the same title people skills/trade would be different.

[greyhair]

Originally Posted by sriramkalyan

May be we should do some thing dramatic. Like sending letter to Canadian Government, here we are 1000 skilled people with extensive experience and International degrees. Collectively we going to bring in $1 million or more. Can you expedite our Permanent residency!!

All US senators know that EB immigrants are going through Hell hole of USCIS. They are unable to do anything about it.

Although USCIS does not report to Congress, USCIS merely implement the laws created by 100 Senators and 435 House members. Our anger towards USCIS is mis-directed. The anger and focus should be on the Congress to pass the laws that will fix green card wait time.

All Senators are actors. They pretend that they know our problems but they actually do not do anything to fix our issues. Otherwise, why would this amendment have 70 votes as pappu said in his post.

[hpandey]

Originally Posted by svr_76

@hpandey : I dont think that this is any "racist" amendment. I think this amendment is more geared towards the perception that Microsoft (US) (and the simmilars) when firing ppl in US fire citizen and "hire" (H1B ppl immediately). I think if at all it needs improvement on what they mean by "same title" as within the same title people skills/trade would be different.

I think it is racist because accordinging to Mr Grassley H1B= Indians .. that is how short sighted he is.

Just think how many Indians and chinese would be affected and how many from ROW. What is it if not racism\discrimination whatever you might want to call it.

If he thinks his amendments are going to bring jobs to America he is really ignorant of how the world works. If his idea is that these hundreds of thousands of H1b and AOS people are just going to pack up their bags and leave their jobs behind he is mistaken. Not everyone does a job in which he can be fired on Friday and on Monday someone else can replace him. A lot of us do jobs which cannot be replaced easily .

[gc28262]

svr_76,
Your arguments are baseless. No company will ever hire an H1B to replace an equally qualified Citizen/Green card holder. Company has to spend a lot on H1B employees on lawyer fees and other complications.

Anti-immigrant lawmakers are using the excuse of economy to push through their legislations.

[sage2006]

Track the status of this bill -

S. 2804: Employ America Act (GovTrack.us)

We can read between the lines and be as optimistic as we want..but I do not see anything in the text that excludes EADs.
As per pappu's initial email, everyone - H1B, EAD, L1 etc etc (except GC holders and citizens) are impacted by this bill.

What is the guidance to IV members? Start contacting the senators in the senate committee that deliberating on it and impress upon them to oppose this draconian bill?

[sriramkalyan]

I believe passing any law to make Immigrants life easy wont help Politicians in 2010 elections.
I remember Senator John cornyn did try to do some thing about it, but democrat Senators, Republican house was against it. That was before pre- recession. Now with 9.7% unemployment ..Politicians cannot do anything. Anything can happen only on USCIS budget side. Either they have to make Visa Current , new applications & Dollars. Or e rising FEES, Which they did it.

[svr_76]

Our best bet is to partner with groups/org (hi-tech lobby) that have as members big firms that are impacted by this. This would give us a more directed approach on opposing.

I am trying to identify the group of immigrants impacted by this rule-making and was trying to highlight that the rule restricts DHS from approving visa petitions from Employers.

As such EADs are not filed by employers and moreover are not Visa application.

[alias]

EAD is not tied to an employer/company, it is your application. You may apply for EAD but not work at all, if you wish.