The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA or the "Stimulus Bill") limits certain banks and other financial institutions receiving TARP money from hiring H-1B workers unless they had offered positions to equally- or better-qualified US workers, and to prevent banks from hiring H-1B workers in occupations in which they had laid off US workers

Section 1611 of the ARRA, called the Employ American Workers Act (EAWA) places new restrictions on H-1B petitions filed by any company that receives funding under title I of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-343, also known as the "TARP Bill") or that receives funding under Section 13 of the Federal Reserve Act (12 U.S.C. § 342 et seq., authorizing the Federal Reserve's "Discount Window" for short-term, secured loans to financial institutions and other companies). Companies receiving funds under the AARA (the "stimulus bill") itself, such as engineering companies that contract with states to build the transportation infrastructure funded by the bill, are NOT subject to any restrictions - only banks and other companies receiving TARP money, or credit directly from the Federal Reserve System, are covered.

The EAWA provides that it will be unlawful for any recipient of funding to "hire" an H-1B nonimmigrant unless the recipient has complied with the extra Labor Condition Application attestations previously imposed on "H-1B dependent employers." These extra attestations are:

• that the employer has, prior to filing the H-1B petition, taken good-faith steps to recruit U.S. workers for the position for which the H-1B worker is sought, offering a wage that is at least as high as that required under law to be offered to the H-1B worker. The employer must also attest that, in connection with this recruitment, it has offered the job to any U.S. worker who applies and is equally or better qualified for the position.
• that the employer has not laid off, and will not lay off, any U.S. worker in a job that is essentially equivalent to the H-1B position in the area of intended employment of the H-1B worker within the period beginning 90 days prior to the filing of the H-1B petition and ending 90 days after its filing.

All H-1B workers "hired" by a covered employer between February 17, 2009 and February 16, 2011 are covered by the EAWA. Even though the H-1B dependent employer rules provide an exemption from the extra attestations for H-1B workers who possess master's degrees or who receive wages of at least $60,000, the EAWA makes this exemption unavailable to TARP recipients.name. It is preferred that you do not redact the receipt number.