I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 170 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify the definition 

of ‘‘exempt H–1B nonimmigrant’’. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2017 

Mr. ISSA (for himself, Mr. PETERS, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. 

LABRADOR, Mr. SMITH of Texas, and Mr. POLIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to modify 

the definition of ‘‘exempt H–1B nonimmigrant’’. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect and Grow 

5 American Jobs Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The H–1B visa program allows businesses 

9 temporarily to hire highly skilled foreign workers 


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1 with specialized knowledge, where a qualified worker 

2 in the United States cannot be found. 

3 (2) In 1990, the Congress created the H–1B 

4 visa program to help ensure that access to qualified 

5 highly skilled professionals was not an obstacle to 

6 economic growth and job creation in the United 

7 States. 

8 (3) The H–1B visa program was never intended 

9 to be used as a catalyst for laying off workers in the 

10 United States and replacing them with H–1B work11 ers. 

12 (4) The unintended consequences of the H–1B 

13 visa program enabled a small number of companies 

14 to hire large numbers of H–1B workers relative to 

15 their United States worker populations. 

16 (5) In 1998, Congress passed new enforcement 

17 provisions to the H–1B program in order to prevent 

18 companies from displacing United States workers 

19 with lower-cost foreign professionals. 

20 (6) The 1998 revisions defined a new class of 

21 H–1B-dependent employers and established addi22 tional conditions on their business and hiring prac23 tices unless they paid sufficiently high wages. 

24 (7) The 1998 revisions, however, did not index 

25 wage requirements to keep pace with wage growth, 


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1 and, as a result, the strength of provisions designed 

2 to protect workers and employers committed to hir3 ing United States workers was reduced significantly. 

4 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

5 The purpose of this Act is to close a loophole in the 

6 H–1B visa program by requiring H–1B-dependent em7 ployers once again to pay sufficiently high wages to ensure 

8 the protection of the workforce in the United States and 

9 to remove other impediments to proper H–1B visa en10 forcement. 

11 SEC. 4. EXEMPT H–1B NONIMMIGRANT DEFINED. 

12 Section 212(n)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nation13 ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(n)(3)(B)) is amended— 

14 (1) by striking clause (i) and inserting the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(i) the term ‘exempt H–1B nonimmigrant’ 

17 means an H–1B nonimmigrant who receives wages 

18 (including cash bonuses) at an annual rate equal to 

19 at least the greater of $100,000 or the applicable 

20 adjusted amount under clause (iii);’’; 

21 (2) in clause (ii), by striking the period at the 

22 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(iii) the amount described in clause 

25 (i) (as of the last increase to such amount) 


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1 shall be increased, effective for the third 

2 fiscal year that begins after the date of the 

3 enactment of this clause and for every 

4 third fiscal year thereafter, by the percent5 age (if any) by which the Consumer Price 

6 Index for the month of June preceding the 

7 date on which such increase takes effect 

8 exceeds the Consumer Price Index for the 

9 same month of the third preceding cal10 endar year.’’. 

Æ 


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