H1-B visa provisions target Indian IT cos

[dwarakesh]

NEW DEHI: The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) on Friday hit out at the U.S. H1B visa legislation, introduced in the Senate on Thursday, saying its provisions are targeting Indian firms and restricting their ability to compete in the U.S. market.

Nasscom said that though the stated objective of the Bill was to prevent fraud and visa abuse, several of the provisions of this Bill were against the principles of free trade.

The Bill, which among a host of provisions favourable to U.S. professionals, requires all employers who want to hire an H1B guest worker to first make a 'good faith' attempt to recruit a qualified American worker.

Indian companies had been allocated only 12,000 visas in 2008, out of the limit of 85,000 visas. The data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) show that till date in April , it has received about half the H-1B visa applications against the cap for 2009-10.

This clearly demonstrates that companies are not using the H-1B visa route to replace U.S. workers. The U.S. did not have a temporary service visa as in other countries and companies that do send highly skilled engineers on H-1B visas were for temporary period with average stay in the U.S. of less than two years, he added.

Mr. Mittal further confirmed that as the legislation went through discussion and debate in the U.S. Congress, the industry body would continue to provide perspectives to the law makers on the negative impact these unfair trade practices could have on the India-U.S. trade partnership.

The legislation had been introduced in the U.S. Senate reforming the H-1B and L1 visa programmes, under which the U.S. firms looking for skilled foreign professionals are required to make a 'good faith' attempt to recruit local workers first.