IEEE says L-1 visa not intended for outsourcers

03.04.2012
WASHINGTON - The U.S. this week began accepting applications for H-1B visas for the next fiscal year, but that's not the big news it was in previous years.

The H-1B has been a powder keg among IT workers for a long time, but the real battle this year is over the L-1 visa. The L-1 visa is used for intra-company transfers of employees from foreign offices to U.S. offices.

The L-1 battle got even bigger this week.

In separate letters sent on Tuesday, the labor union AFL-CIO and the IEEE-USA professional organization warned the White House against undermining U.S. worker protections in the L-1 visa by accepting changes recommended by more than 60 firms and organizations, including IT outsourcing firms and the U.S Chamber of Commerce.

The AFL-CIO and IEEE-USA say the U.S. runs the risks of expanding the visa's use in .

They are the latest groups to register a view on an administrative issue that has become the focus of a national .