Drastic Cut in
H1-B Visas Begins October 1
By
Vasantha Arora
WASHINGTON:
The US Chamber of Commerce has pleaded that the cap of 195,000
H1-B visas allocated for fiscal year 2003 be retained, and not
cut to just 65,000, to help maintain America's global competitiveness.
It
said this at a hearing held before the powerful Senate Judiciary
Committee to examine the importance of H1-B visas to the American
economy. The cap on H1-B visas is set to decline to 65,000 from
October 1, 2003. India sends the largest number of H1-B visa holders
to the US.
"Through
the US Chamber of Commerce and in coalition with businesses and
trade associations across the spectrum, we seek a reasonable,
market driven H1-B policy that recognizes market realities,"
said Elizabeth Dickson, who testified on behalf of the US Chamber
of Commerce.
The
business body said the reorganization of immigration services,
the increased focus on national security and the impending reduction
in the H1-B program have generated concern in the business community.
Employers
in the US currently need and will continue to need H1-B workers,
it said. "Immigration policies and procedures must be rationally
based and include consideration for economic security and competitiveness,"
Dickson said.
Despite
declining usage of the category (only approximately 79,000 visas
were used in the last fiscal year), it remains important to allow
the US to remain competitive in the battle for global talent,
she asserted.
Dickson,
who is the director of immigration services of the multinational
Ingersoll-Rand Company, said an employer is also limited by an
annual cap on the total number of new H1-B workers.
"It
is unclear what, if any, rationale was used in developing this
cap. What is clear is that the cap, when reached before the beginning
of the new fiscal year, causes great economic hardship to US employers,"
she said, strongly pleading for retention of the higher figure.
She
took the opportunity to debunk the theory that H1-B workers displace
American workers and lower American workers' wages and working
conditions in certain job sectors. "It is hard to displace
US workers when you don't have any US workers to choose from,"
she pointed out.
She
also warned that if the government refuses to recognize market
needs and demands, the only alternative for American companies
will be to move more of their operations offshore.
"In
the near term, we simply must have access to foreign nationals.
Many of them have been educated in the US. By sending them home
we are at best sending them to our own foreign plant sites, and
at worst to our competitors."
Immigrants
build wealth and create jobs for native-born Americans, she said
quoting a recent report from the Immigration Policy Centre of
the American Immigration Law Foundation to point out how foreign
born individuals are 28 percent of all Ph.D.s in the US currently
engaged in research and development in science and engineering.
India's
IT and BPO sectors are predicted to become the world's third largest
by 2008 despite growing resentment against outsourcing in America.
Speaking
at a luncheon by the India-America Chamber of Commerce in New
York, Kumar Mahadeva, chairman and chief executive of Cognizant
Technologies, said India will be the principal beneficiary of
BPO from the US.
"India's
IT and BPO sectors will be the third largest in the world by 2008
after the US and Japan, although it is only scratching the surface
today with a two percent market share," he said.
Mahadeva
said the main reason for the backlash against BPO was that economic
recovery in the US had not translated into more jobs.
"It
is also the 'silly season' right now in Washington, D.C., with
the presidential election, then Senate, the House, and many of
the governors and state houses. Jobs, therefore, are certainly
a major issue," he said.
Yet,
one cannot shy away from the fact that the baby boomer generation
in the US is retiring and that the next wave of knowledge workers
will be much smaller, he said.
To
an extent, Mahadeva also blamed some Indian companies for some
of the protectionist measures proposed by the US "The L-1
visas are under scrutiny. The abuse by some India-centric companies
has spawned some negative press about L-1 visa misuse," he
said.
One
of the outcomes has been the decision to restrict the number of
H1-B visas to the original level of 65,000 with effect from October
1, from 165,000 earlier, he added.- Indo-Asian News Service
