H1-B visa bar threatens Indians’ job prospects

Washington: Nearly 1 lakh skilled Indian workers’ prospects of living the American dream may turn sour with Congress barring firms that received bailout money from hiring foreigners through HI-B visa programme if they replace U.S. citizens. Estimates suggest that there are 1 lakh Indian nationals among the 1.63 lakh from across the world who had applied for the skilled worker visa in Financial Year 2009. The U.S. has capped the H1-B visa at 65,000 a year, of which 40,000-45,000 generally goes to Indian professionals, mostly from the IT industry. Restricting the hiring of H1-B visa holders forms part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, widely known as the stimulus Bill, which was passed by Congress on Friday. With thousands of jobs being cut by U.S. companies almost daily over the past few months, there have been widespread apprehensions that these positions could go to low-cost foreign workers or might be outsourced to places like India. The government data for 2008 shows that about 5.7 lakh Indians were issued H1-B and other non-immigrant visas. The bar comes even as IT firms in the U.S. and India are demanding an increase in the H1-B visa cap, which was cut from 1.95 lakh to the present level two years ago. Indians then accounted for over 1 lakh H1-B visas. The Bill prohibits banks and firms receiving federal bailout money from hiring people on H-1B visas in place of Americans laid off by them due to the economic meltdown. The Act makes a provision of $787 billion for reviving the battered U.S. economy.

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