I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1774

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to not count work experience

as an unauthorized alien for purposes of admission as an employmentbased immigrant or an H–1B nonimmigrant.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 12, 1999

Mr. GALLEGLY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to not count

work experience as an unauthorized alien for purposes

of admission as an employment-based immigrant or an

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 ‘‘Illegal Alien Employ5 ment Disincentive Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. NOT COUNTING WORK EXPERIENCE AS AN UNAU2 THORIZED ALIEN FOR PURPOSES OF ADMIS3 SION AS A WORKER.

4 (a) FOR ADMISSION AS AN EMPLOYMENT-BASED IM5 MIGRANT.—Section 203(b) of the Immigration and Na6 tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)) is amended by adding

7 at the end the following new paragraph:

8 ‘‘(7) NOT COUNTING WORK EXPERIENCE AS AN

9 UNAUTHORIZED ALIEN.—

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this

11 subsection, work experience obtained in employ12 ment in the United States with respect to which

13 (and during the period for which) the alien was

14 an unauthorized alien (as defined in section

15 274A(h)(3)) shall not be taken into account, ex16 cept that work experience described in subpara17 graph (B) shall not be considered work experi18 ence as an unauthorized alien.

19 ‘‘(B) WORK EXPERIENCE DESCRIBED.—

20 Work experience described in this subparagraph

21 is work experience—

22 ‘‘(i) obtained in employment in the

23 United States by an alien—

24 ‘‘(I) admitted as a nonimmigrant

25 student described in section

26 101(a)(15)(F)(i) or 101(a)(15)(M)(i);
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1 ‘‘(II) who failed to pursue a full

2 course of study; and

3 ‘‘(III) who did not know, and did

4 not have reason to know, that such

5 failure was a violation of a condition

6 for the continuation of such non7 immigrant status; and

8 ‘‘(ii) with respect to which (and dur9 ing the period for which) the alien relied in

10 good faith on an otherwise valid work au11 thorization, issued to the alien notwith12 standing the alien’s failure to pursue a full

13 course of study.’’.

14 (b) FOR CLASSIFICATION AS AN H–1B NON15 IMMIGRANT.—Section 214 of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1184)

16 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub17 section:

18 ‘‘(n) Work experience obtained in employment in the

19 United States with respect to which (and during the pe20 riod for which) the alien was an unauthorized alien (as

21 defined in section 274A(h)(3)) shall not be taken into ac22 count in determining eligibility to be classified as a non23 immigrant under section 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b).’’.

24 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

25 this section shall apply to visas issued (and adjustments
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1 and changes of status effected) on or after the date of

2 the enactment of this Act, regardless of whether the work

3 experience as an unauthorized alien occurred before, on,

4 or after such date.

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