Immigrants Could Give Americans Clue About Company Layoffs

A Republican-backed immigration bill could give American workers an unusual-and potentially powerful-signal about whether layoffs are looming at their company.

The bill, introduced by Republican Representative Chip Roy, is a long-shot attempt to limit the number of H-1B visas issued. While the majority of the bill focuses on companies hiring foreign workers, buried within the sweeping proposal is a requirement that employers formally attest to whether they plan to lay off workers in the near future.

So, if a company is applying for H-1B visas, it means they’ve attested that that class of worker will not be laid off in the next 12 months, indicating a level of job security for workers.

"For its nearly forty-year history, the H-1B visa has been abused, allowing employers to routinely sideline American STEM workers in favor of cheap foreign labor, while masking layoffs and wage suppression as ‘shortages.' It's time to end this lottery-based pipeline and replace it with a system that prioritizes merit, enforces real wage standards, and puts American white-collar workers first," Roy said in a statement.

What the Bill Requires

The legislation, which builds on a bill introduced by Republican Representative Eli Crane, would overhaul the H-1B visa program. The visa is for foreign workers employed in the United States, for whom employers must petition to obtain it. The worker then enters a lottery system with a limited number of spots per person’s home country.

Among the new rules is a key certification requirement for companies seeking to hire foreign workers. Employers would have to affirm several conditions, including that:

• They have not conducted layoffs in the previous 12 months
• They do not intend to carry out layoffs in the following 12 months
• Hiring a foreign worker will not negatively affect U.S. workers

That forward-looking pledge-essentially a statement of future workforce stability-could create new transparency for American workers. If a company is actively applying for H‑1B visas under those conditions, it is effectively indicating, at least at the time of filing, that it does not anticipate layoffs in the coming year.

Conversely, if a firm stops applying or sharply reduces submissions, workers might interpret that as a shift in outlook.

How This Differs From WARN

The primary federal safeguard for employees facing layoffs is the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. That law requires companies with at least 100 employees to give 60 days' advance notice of mass layoffs or plant closures.

But WARN notices come relatively late in the process-after decisions have been made. Companies can also circumvent the notices through several provisions, including spreading layoffs across multiple dates and locations. Some companies also opt not to give notice and instead offer 60-day severance packages to fulfill their obligation to employees.

By contrast, the H‑1B certification requirement operates upstream. It forces companies to make a declaration about layoffs before they happen, at the point when they are planning staffing needs and seeking visas.

People can track whether companies have filed H-1B visa applications online on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, which maintains a database. On the website, people can see which companies have petitioned the government for visas and how many applications they’ve made.

What Happens Next

The bill does not prevent layoffs outright. Companies could still implement job cuts later if business conditions change, even after obtaining the certification. Under the terms of the bill as it’s currently written, the Secretary of Labor would be allowed to investigate complaints and fine a company $100,000 per violation. Employers could also be banned from hiring H-1B visa employees for up to 10 years.

“For decades, the H-1B program has been exploited to lay off American citizens and replace them with cheap foreign labor,” Joe Chatham, director of Government Relations, Federation for American Immigration Reform, said in a statement. “Congressman Roy's American White-Collar Worker Jobs Act is vital to addressing this abuse and will tighten H-1B requirements, prioritize higher-paying positions, and empower American workers to hold corporations accountable. FAIR urges Congress to act swiftly to protect American workers, stop the flood of cheap foreign labor undermining American talent, and pass this critical bill.”

Under the bill, in addition to penalties on employers, Americans displaced by nonimmigrant workers would have the right to sue in court.

For the bill to pass, Roy would need a majority in both the House and the Senate, as well as President Donald Trump’s signature.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jenni Fink and Sam Wilson.

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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 10:39 AM.