User:STEMLaborPolicy/Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

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'''Between 1997-2019, there have been 1.5 million L-1 visa approvals. '''

Between 1997-2019, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 1.5 million L-1 visas. In 2019, USCIS approved 76,988 L-1 visas. In 201 the a


 * The L-1 visa brings in primarily Indian nationals.
 * L-1 visa holders lack labor market mobility as they are tied to the employer, while in the United States.
 * L-1 visa contributes to "near-shoring", where the workers go back to their home country and bring their new knowledge there.
 * Outsourcing firms have played an increasingly important tole with the L-1 guestworker visa.
 * Most employers do not use the L-1 visa as a path to immigration.

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 * Blanket L-1 visas, which are available to employers that meet certain criteria. The criteria are only for-profit companies with at least $25 million in sales or have at least $1,000 employees in the United States qualify.

Criticism
Some industry representatives have accused companies of utilizing the L-1 program to replace U.S. workers.


 * It facilitates knowledge transfer to other countries. 
 * There is no minimum wage requirement or wage protections, meaning companies can pay these visa workers the same salaries they were being paid from the countries they are coming from. Electronics for Imaging brought workers from its Bangalore, India operations and paid them $1.21 an hour and required them to work 120 hours a week.
 * President James Leonard states "there has been rampant abuse of the H1-B and L-1 visas".
 * The spouse of an L-1 worker is able to obtain an EAD and work without restriction which adds further competition for jobs for Americans.
 * There is no education or skill requirement.
 * There is no definition of "specialized knowledge". The Department of Homeland Security found that "is so broadly defined that adjudicators believe they have little choice but to approve almost all petitions.”
 * Intel relies on Americans to train L-1 workers so they go back and staff operations in other countries.
 * There is no requirement to recruit an American worker first.
 * The L-1 visa is used as a source of temporary and cheap labor.