releases: http://www.billnelson.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lawmakers-seek-to-cut-number-of-h-1b-visas-available-each-year
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
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| http://www.billnelson.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/lawmakers-seek-to-cut-number-of-h-1b-visas-available-each-year | Lawmakers seek to cut number of H-1B visas available each year | 2015-12-08 | 2015 | 2015-12 | Democrat | House | FL | Bill Nelson | N000032 | www.billnelson.senate.gov | legacy | WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) filed legislation today that would cut the number of H-1B visas available each year. Congress created the H-1B visa program in 1990 to allow a limited number of highly specialized workers to enter the U.S. to fill jobs where there was said to be a shortage of U.S. workers. Under current law, the Department of Homeland Security may grant up to 85,000 H-1B visas to highly-specialized foreign workers each year. Nelsons bill, filed today with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), would reduce the number of visas available by 15,000. And it would also require the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize the allocation of these 70,000 H-1B visas to foreign workers based on their salary. By cutting the number of visas available each year and requiring those visas be given to the highest-wage earners first, this bill directly targets outsourcing companies that rely on lower-wage foreign workers to replace equally-qualified U.S. workers, Nelson said. Nelson says the measure will help ensure that the H-1B visa program is once again being used as it was originally intended: to attract foreign workers with highly specialized skills not found among the available U.S. workforce. Last month, Nelson and a handful of his Senate colleagues filed a separate piece of legislation to reform the H-1B visa program. Specifically, it would prohibit any employer from replacing a U.S. worker with an H-1B visa holder. It would also require employers to prove that they first tried to recruit American workers prior to hiring an H-1B visa holder and bar companies that employ more than 50 people from hiring any additional H-1B employees if more than half of their employees are already H-1B visa holders. The text of the bill Nelson filed today is available here. | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |