Washington, DC – The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) today released the following statement, applauding House and Senate conferees for removing the Grassley/Sanders H-1B visa fee amendment from the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education appropriations bill conference report. NFTC President Bill Reinsch released the following statement:
“We applaud the House and Senate Labor-HHS appropriations bill conferees for removing the Grassley/Sanders amendment from the conference report. The amendment would have imposed an unnecessary fee on U.S. companies seeking to attract and retain the best and brightest highly skilled, foreign-born professionals through the H-1B visa program.
“To remain competitive in the global marketplace, U.S. employers aggressively seek out top notch talent both domestically and from all around the world. The H-1B visa program, which currently fails to keep up with market demand, is in need of reform to ensure that employers have the ability to innovate and compete with firms worldwide.
“The fee hike proposed in the Grassley/Sanders amendment moves in the wrong direction. The measure would have led to a financial burden on companies of all sizes that already face visa shortages, green card backlogs and other impediments that deny them access to the world’s top talent, and it would have sent the message that America is closing itself off from talented people at the very time we need them the most as we face increasing competition globally.”
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Advancing Global Commerce for Over 90 Years
The National Foreign Trade Council (www.nftc.org) is a leading business organization advocating an open, rules-based global trading system. Founded in 1914 by a broad-based group of American companies, the NFTC now serves hundreds of member companies through its offices in Washington and New York.
