On October 1, Texas Republican Rep. Beth Van Duyne filed the H‑1B Visa Fraud Crackdown Act, slashing the maximum fine for serious violations from $35,000 to $250,000 and expanding the mandatory exclusion period from three to ten years.
The proposal also hikes secondary penalties: the fine for non‑serious abuses will jump from $5,000 to $100,000, and fraud penalties will climb from $250–$2,000 to $1,000–$10,000, while exclusion periods stretch from two to five years.
Van Duyne, who has previously pushed investigations into alleged H‑1B fraud in North Texas, said the tougher fines are intended to deter employers from "deliberately breaking H‑1B rules and protecting American workers." The bill boasts co‑sponsors Brandon Gill, Pete Sessions, Keith Self, Brian Babin and Pat Fallon, all Texas Republicans.
The House Judiciary Committee will review the proposal, with a potential vote in the House and Senate before a presidential signature. The bill’s fate hinges on bipartisan support amid debates over the program’s impact on U.S. tech firms.
Tech startup InnovateSoft CEO Raj Patel, whose company employs 12 foreign engineers, warned that a sudden fine hike could cripple its growth, while former H‑1B worker Maria Lopez, who lost her job after a violation citation, said stricter penalties would give her more confidence in job security.