Proposed draft Article 5, Section 1 then requires that “Each Party shall take market access and national treatment commitments for intra-corporate transferees, business visitors and categories delinked from commercial presence: contractual service suppliers and independent professionals.” Section 3 gets more specific about the sectors of the economy where member states will have to allow access to intra-corporate transferees, business visitors, contractual service suppliers, and independent professionals:
3. Subject to any terms, limitations, conditions and qualifications that the Party sets out in its Schedule, Parties shall allow entry and temporary stay of [contractual service suppliers and independent professionals
3] for a minimum of [X%] of the following sectors/sub-sectors:
Professional services:
- Accounting, auditing and bookkeeping services (CPC 862)
- Architectural services (CPC 8671)
- Engineering services (CPC 8672)
- Integrated engineering services (CPC 8673)
- Urban planning and landscape architectural services (CPC 8674)
- Medical & dental services (CPC 9312)
- Veterinary services (CPC 932)
- Services provided by midwives, nurses, physiotherapists and paramedical personnel (CPC 93191)
Computer and related services:
- Consultancy services related to the installation of computer hardware (CPC 841)
- Software implementation services (CPC 842)
- Data processing services (CPC 843)
- Data base services (CPC 844)
- Other (CPC 845+849)
Research and Development services:
- R&D services on natural sciences (CPC 851)
- R&D services on social sciences and humanities (CPC 852)
- Interdisciplinary R&D services (CPC 853)
Other business services
- Advertising services (CPC 871)
- Market research and public opinion polling services (CPC 864)
- Management consulting services (CPC 865)
- Services related to management consulting (CPC 866)
- Technical testing & analysis services (CPC 8676)
- [CH propose: Services incidental to manufacturing]
- Related scientific and technical consulting services (CPC 8675)
- Maintenance and repair of equipment (not including maritime vessels, aircraft or other transport equipment) (CPC 633 + 8861-8866)
- Specialty design services (CPC 87907)
Construction and related engineering services:
- General construction work for buildings (CPC 512)
- General construction work for civil engineering (CPC 513)
- Installation and assembly work (CPC514+516)
- Building completion and finishing work (CPC 517)
- Other (CPC 511+515+518)
Environmental services:
- Sewage services (CPC 9401)
- Refuse disposal services (CPC 9402)
- Sanitation and similar services (CPC 9403)
- Other
[CH propose: Financial Services]
[CH propose: Financial advisors]
Tourism and travel related services:
- Hotels and Restaurants (CPC Ex. 641)
- Travel Agencies and Tour Operators services (CPC 7471)
- Tourist Guides services (CPC 7472)
[CH propose: Transport services
[CH propose: Other services auxiliary to all modes of transport CPC]
Recreational, cultural and sporting services:
38. Sporting and other recreational services (CPC 964)
In the United States, this means the L-1 intra-company transferee, B-1 business visitor visa programs, and any other applicable visa programs could be used to permit temporary employees from abroad to work in the United States, and no economic needs tests (i.e., testing the labor market) could ever be imposed by Congress. To translate, that means that foreign firms would not be required to advertise jobs to U.S. workers, or to hire U.S. workers if they were equally or better qualified for job openings in their own country. (It should be noted that the L-1 is already restricted in this way, as a result of the United States’ commitments under the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATS).) These visa programs are already
under-regulated and
abused by employers, but since neither the L-1 nor the B-1 visa program is numerically limited by law, this means that potentially hundreds of thousands of workers could enter the United States every year to work in these 38 sectors.
TiSA has been written in secret by and for major corporations that will benefit greatly if it becomes law. If the House of Representatives grants the Obama administration the fast-track trade promotion authority it seeks, the authority will be valid for six years, which means TiSA (like TPP) would also get an up-or-down vote in Congress without any amendments—making it very likely to pass and become law without the necessary democratic deliberations on immigration that such major changes should have. The leaked TiSA text makes it clear that contrary to the claims by proponents of fast-track trade promotion authority, the reality is that those voting for fast track are ceding key powers to make immigration law and policy to an unelected group of corporations and foreign governments.