Bill Against Abuse Of H-1B Visas Reintroduced In U.S. House Of Representatives

A bill seeking to prevent U.S. companies from outsourcing jobs overseas by "abusing" H-1B programme has been re-introduced in House of Representatives by two lawmakers.

Introduced by Democratic Congressman Derek Kilmer and his Republican colleague Doug Collins, the bill aims at stopping employers that are awarded temporary visas through the H-1B programme from using them to train workers in the U.S. then move those jobs to another country.

"The Keeping American Jobs Act protects American workers by preventing bad actors from abusing the system in order to offshore jobs," said Collins in a statement, days after 60 Minutes show on PBS aired a documentary on H-1B visa programme that allows skilled workers from countries like India to fill high-tech jobs in the U.S.

"Protecting American jobs is crucial in order for our economy to continue to gain strength and momentum," said Collins.

"They shouldn't be about sending jobs done by hard working Americans overseas. That's why I'm continuing my push with Representative Collins to keep H-1B visas from ever being used to send any job to another country," he said.

Noting that H-1B visas allow American businesses to hire foreign professionals if skilled American workers are unavailable to fill job openings, a Congressional statement said the employees must have expertise in fields like science and technology and generally have college degrees.

"This week, 60 Minutes reported that unscrupulous employers have utilised the programme to bring foreign workers in and displace American jobs. This follows reports last year that American workers were forced to train H-1B visa holders to do their job so that the jobs could be permanently outsourced to foreign workers," the statement said.