In a move that could greatly benefit Indian software professionals, particularly those graduating from US universities with master’s and higher degrees, a Senate panel on immigration proposes to double the number of H-1B work visas issued to high-skilled foreigners.
The panel is also toying with the idea of giving permanent legal status (green cards) to an unlimited number of foreign students who earn graduate degrees from US universities in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM), the Washington Post reported citing people familiar with the ongoing deliberations.
While the plan being drawn up by eight Senators from both parties would fulfil a long-pending demand of the US tech industry, it may just leave the Indian IT firms in the cold since some Senators are firm on subjecting these “outsourcing” firms to stiffer restrictions and further fee hikes.
In fact, earlier this week, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, known to be a long-time critic of the H-1B visa programme, reintroduced a bill that tightens restrictions on these visas. The top 10 companies using the programme are “offshoring firms” (reference to Indian IT companies) and they take up nearly 50 per cent of the visas available, Grassley said.
The Senate panel’s plan that is still in the works really responds to the demands put forth by US tech majors Microsoft, Google and several others who were finding it hard to find qualified workers for key tech posts because of the H-1B cap of 65,000 visas a year and stringent green card norms forcing one to wait for many years to gain permanent residence.
Critics of Indian IT majors allege that these companies with US operations have not only bagged the bulk of H-1B visas, but they also send the workers back home after training them in the US to do those very jobs and pay them a lot less.
One of the eight Senators on the bipartisan panel is Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, who in the past has teamed up with Senator Grassley in moves to impose curbs on Indian IT firms doing business in the US. Durbin is still trying to persuade his fellow-panelists to accept some key restrictions on the visas, The Post reported, noting the group has tentatively agreed to impose stiff fees on some outsourcing companies that hire H-1B workers.
Grassley, who is not on this panel, defended his own legislation which he has been reintroducing from time to time. “I just want to make sure people know that I haven’t changed my mind,” he told Politico.
“The (H-1B) programme was never meant to replace qualified American workers, but it was instead intended as a means to fill gaps in highly specialised areas of employment,” Grassley said in a statement. “The legislation will benefit the American worker, while still ensuring that US companies get the specialised workers they need.”
Grassley’s bill aims to deny new H-1B visas to those firms with more than 50 employees and having 50% or more of those employees already on this visa. The proposal also requires companies to list vacancies on a US labour Department sponsored website for a period of 30 days, before hiring foreign workers. It also proposes to double penalties over administrative violations and flouting the rules.