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Anti H-1B visa bill introduced in U.S. Senate

By SiliconIndia,Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 03:23 Hrs
Bangalore: Two months after introducing the Durbin-Grassley visa reform bill in India and the U.S., the bill has once again been brought before the U.S. Senate. The bill if legalized will have serious implications for Indian IT companies as well as Indians seeking H-1B visas.

The bill, introduced by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Charles Grassley, contains specifications that companies will have to follow to attain U.S. work visas called H-1Bs and L-1s. The bill according to the Senate's website has officially been logged as, S. 887; A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to reform and reduce fraud and abuse in certain visa programs for aliens working temporarily.
Anti H-1B visa bill introduced in U.S. Senate


The most controversial of these stipulations is the '50/50' provision which would prohibit companies from obtaining any additional work visas if they have more than 50 U.S. employees and more than 50 percent of their entire U.S. workforce is made up of H-1B or L-1 visa holders. The provision could prevent companies like Wipro and Infosys from hiring more Indian workers to work in the U.S.

Rising unemployment in the U.S. has been cited as a reason for introducing the bill. Claiming that the provision would help protect American jobs, Grassley says, "The original rationale was that we needed to allow importation of managers and technical people when there weren't enough Americans available. It seems to me ridiculous that companies now have more than half of their workers on these visas when there are certainly a lot of workers in the U.S. who can fill in some of those positions."

There have been numerous outcries against the bill. Opponents in the U.S. for instance called the bill a piece of socialist legislature and a sign of growing U.S. protectionism. Top executives at firms like Tata and Infosys have said that the argument over the legislation could eventually lead to a trade dispute between India and the U.S.

   
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Reader's comments (43)
1: I am H1B, and I admit that I'm a slave. In addition to my many other main projects, any projects refused by US citizens are given to me.
Posted by: i know  - 14 Jul, 2009

2: There is no shortage of engineers in the US. Also, we cannot deny that H1B is a slavery supply. When a US company hires people, they'll choose those who can get the job done at the price for which the companies are willing to pay. If you are a US citizen, and yet you still want to work in science and engineer, I'd say that you're asking for trouble. If you encourage your children to be engineers, then you're asking for even more trouble. Other countries are catching up in science and engineering, and if you are stubborn to stick with sciengineering, then you'll have to compete with foreigners. This is normal. If you don't like this, then do something else so you don't have to compete with these foreigners. You got no other options. Do you understand?
Posted by: I know - 14 Jul, 2009

3: H1B is a modern tool for the US to get constant supply of slaves, mostly young people. When workers complete the 6 years, they go home, next come a new group of young slaves. Those US citizens that complain about H1B stealing jobs are low income people. They are citizens who still want to do science and engineering. Citizens that are ahead of the game are taking advantage of H1B system, they are mostly high level managers/executives. These high income citizens discourage their children from doing science and engineering because it's not profitable. So those of you citizens who still want to work in science and engineering, I'd say that you are late in game, so you're now left to compete with H1B workers. If a US company doesn't want to hire you, in their eyes, you are lower than H1B slaves.
Posted by: I know - 14 Jul, 2009

4: I am h1b.Those people who are crying for stopping h1b.Those people are incompetent.They should stop consulting companies or hyderabadies as most of them are fake.Those people who are here on h1b for 7 or 8 years and working on 100k salary can't be fake.I have seen when these bloody indian get Green card .They cry against their own people.I have seen many GC Holder or citizen looking for job for years and not getting that in IT.The main reason is they are not competent. I had fired many amarican because they were not competent or upto mypace.I love workers irrespective of what is their status as long as they are productive
Posted by: Manoj - 18 Jun, 2009

5:Really 7 or 8 years ... ON H1B ... really
 Indian replied to: Manoj 
 post - 22 Jun, 2009

6: Stop h1b, stop slavery. This 21st century slavery is for the benefit of the American Corporate.
Posted by: quark - 15 Jun, 2009

7: Most Indians are fake with fake resumes. India has no culture. Indians are the biggest hyopcrites in the world. India is afraid of china. India lost in world cup. hooray jai ho.
Posted by: ram lakshman - 15 Jun, 2009

8: Stop H1-B , stop outsourcing to Indian factories. Most H1-B on fake resumes. Lots of fraud done by Indians.
Posted by: ram mehta - 15 Jun, 2009

9:Oh Looking who is saying ram mehta, who are you..not an indian ask you pop son is he fake, i think u are an adopted or illicit son of an indian father
 sameer replied to: ram mehta 
 post - 15 Jun, 2009

10: i think this ram mehta is from pakistaan..............
 sf43t5 replied to:  sameer 
 post - 11 Aug, 2009

11: I belong to the group of H1B group working in the US. I love US for its openess and the endless oppurtunities it provides. But I'm not a person interested in settling down, the whole problem comes from the fact that people are getting greedy and come over to the US to be here. There are some fraud centers in Hyderabad(Andhra Pradesh) that provide these type of H1Bs.

Secondly, there are IT companies that really degrade an IT job by making people work for endless hours. I really think this needs to change and when these companies charge 10-20$ per hour for the offshore guys, they are doing so much of bad for the employees. If every company comes down to that billing rate, whats the charm of an Engineering degree where you study so hard from your tenth grade to get into the best college and come out with best grades?

Lastly, though I'm a H1B category Indian I do support the US's purpose to stop the H1B fraud by carefully scrutinizing if these are really high quality professionals that need to enter the US. But what about manufacturing? Much of the jobs have been lost there. Its not b/c of outsourcing. US needs to stop thinking outsourcing is the cause of recession. Recession was caused b/c of their bad spending habits.
Posted by: Subha  - 14 Jun, 2009

12: slum living Indians with fake democracy screwing Americans and Westerners with lies about their computer skills and all that nonsense. Slum living Indians screwing H1-b visa system. Bangladesh most corrupt country in World.
Posted by: Manmeet singh - 11 Jun, 2009

13:Manmeet Singh, first think what you are saying. The way you have put your arguments makes me realize that you are incompetent to even analyze the situation!
 applecutter replied to: Manmeet singh 
 post - 14 Jun, 2009

14: Manmeet your father was an indian I suppose, or did your mother cheated your pop and you you were born, what the hell areyou talking about.. Be proud of being what you are, by talkng bad about india doesn't help you or anyone. I am proud of being indian and we are honest to what we work for.This is protectionist socialism that US is doing.
 sameer khan replied to:  applecutter 
 post - 15 Jun, 2009

15:Oy, Who the hell are you to say that Indians are dewelling on Slums. What is your aukath to say that? being a Singh from Punjab.
You dont have any privelege to say that Indians are screwing H1-B Visa system. Its because of all you fellows who are bringing shame for our country sitting there in US. Indians will fight back and will conquer the whole of world with there principles,ideas,culture, heritage and of course brain.

Even US guys wont support you being you never respect your own country and its values.

 Jai Hind replied to: Manmeet singh 
 post - 13 Jun, 2009

16:R u An Indian or NRI?First learn to respect your country.
 purva replied to: Manmeet singh 
 post - 12 Jun, 2009

17: Even he wasn't Indian. His parents/grand parents might be, so were they from slums too? And sometime in life, they did exploit US visa system to make you a citizen of US, Isn't it?
 applecutter replied to:  purva 
 post - 14 Jun, 2009

18: It is not an anti-H-1B Law.

IT IS A PRO-AMERICAN WORKER LAW.

Now is the time for some retribution, India, Inc.
Posted by: kevin flanagan - 11 Jun, 2009

19:You end as losers .... Its gain of India with more offshoring ...
 Jag replied to: kevin flanagan 
 post - 11 Jun, 2009

20: I'm a US citizen - one of the few who worked for Infy in India and also the US. It is easy for those of us that are unemployed (as I currently am, myself) to take it out on you guys. Deep down, we in the US know that you guys are being screwed over by the rich corporations (both the big IT body shops in India and the US corps. that hire them) the same as us. It is easier for angry Americans to lash out at you guys, instead of the companies, though you don't deserve all the blame.

We techies need to work together. American IT workers need to be assertive when it comes to flooding our labor market with non-experienced and maybe less intelligent workers who do data entry and other jobs that could most easily be filled by Americans.

On the other hand, I know a lot of you guys are very good developers, and deserve the chance to work and earn a US salary. However, you must put your foot down and not accept such bad working conditions both in the US and India.

For example, when I was in Bangalore, many of the companies were planning on implementing a six day work week. Furthermore, you guys need to realize that it is not appropriate working more than 8 hours a day - no more staying 'till 8pm every night in order to make us Americans appear lazy.

NONE OF US will be better off if all us IT workers end up earning the average wage you guys make now. You guys in India need to improve your working conditions, instead of allowing the rich companies to drag all of us down together.

Good Luck...
Posted by: Bob - 10 Jun, 2009

21:hey bob thanks for the sensible reply. Life is tough in india , not as good as we see . Sometimes its becomes a practice for s/w engineer to get exploited. Same guys (indians) who are gentle and behave properly with you in US treat indian s/w engineers like peice of shit. Indians who have worked in US change the way to talk and behave when they work in india . We as s/w engineers do not have much options, sometimes to get out of this exploitation we find h1 much better though we do same work but get less exploited and harrased by our managers.Its not about money or US craze but most of the times to get a "respected" Job
 Sameer replied to: Bob 
 post - 15 Jun, 2009

22:bob, i fully agree with u
we must all act together
 dron replied to: Bob 
 post - 11 Jun, 2009

23: This 50/50 clause and other measures will not prevent the flow of IT jobs to any other offshore development centers. It will only impact the profit margin of outsourcing companies based outside US.
If a company is based in US, naturally its US based employee strength will be higher. So they can bring people in H1\L1\B1 for Knowledge Transition. Once that is done they can ship that job to outside. For non-US based companies, they will hire a few locally and continue there operations. So ultimately nothing is going to happen.
Now one question. In 2008 itself there was an estimated Job loss of 2.6 million in US. How many of these were caused by H1\L1 Visas? (there was only 65000 H1s)
And why aren't any one talking about the job loss in manufacturing sector. There are cases where the entire manufacturing plant is shipped out of US... Nobody is worried...
Posted by: Aneesh - 10 Jun, 2009

24:If it will not affect business then why is India so concerned then?
 Levine replied to: Aneesh 
 post - 11 Jun, 2009

25: I can see lot's of good discussion going on. I truly respect the feelings of US people and I will restrict my self from any judgmental comments. I Live in US and probably I have got more friends who are U.S. citizen and less Indians or any other region.
Personally I don’t see any great advantage of introducing Anti H-1B visa bill. It’s just a political stunt to gain confidence of people. I guess these politicians have learnt such drama and stunt from Indian politicians. All these IT companies are simply a business people who may be only bother about their business. When I look at U.S companies, they are also bothered about their business not about U.S citizens. And because of cost saving they are operating their many business in many different countries. One should understand the fact that even in US, companies may be hiring H1B candidate because of low cost. Also recession has not impacted this IT industry a lot as compared to other business unit. The bottom line is H1B people are in U.S. because of their high skill and low cost. I guess in this world of globalization no one can stop any skilled person to work anywhere in this world. But Yes I completely agree that there is some misuse and abuse of H1B visa where few small companies are involved and playing up and down games. Personally I know few companies like H2H solution, Youngsoft and few more in Michigan who are involved. There are many more companies in New Jersey. In my opinion Federal government and INS should take strong action against such companies and the situation will become smooth.
Posted by: patrik - 10 Jun, 2009

26: We need Indian IT companies to abide by the Equal Opportunity laws of the United States first. Satyam, Infosys, and Tata have a U.S. workforce that is 90% Indian, the companies don't even try to hire U.S. citizens for jobs on U.S. soil, unless pressured by the United States Congress.

Clearly, these companies are not competing on talent, but rather on a monopolistic tactic of underselling the competition, by introducing sub-wage workers into the U.S. domestic labor pool, and carrying on a massive discrimination program against the ethnic type known as U.S. citizen.

Clearly companies that never intend to even look to hire domestically in the United States, forfeit any right to claim to need an H-1b or L-1 visa.

The truth is 1-in-5 H-1b visas are fraudulent. Many jobs adds are H-1b only, people of ethnic background "U.S. citizen" need not apply.

What is good for the United States, is for all companies to embrace the full diversity of the United States, and actively recruit from the domestic labor pool, and in doing so truly look for the best candidate.

What no country or company needs are companies that close their mind to the domestic labor pool as potential source for any position within a company, yet Indian IT companies are doing exactly this, and likely hamstringing the future growth of companies that contract with them. Which is something we cannot allow, as it is both destructive to jobs, and morally wrong because it is racial discrimination, and that is something we in the United States abhor.
Posted by: jake leone - 10 Jun, 2009

27: The bill will not help highly QUALITY professioanalS
Posted by: regunaath - 10 Jun, 2009

28:"highly QUALITY professioanalS"?

LOL

typical H-1b
 Tim replied to: regunaath 
 post - 10 Jun, 2009

29: This bill if passes will increase offshoring because of difference in cost in between US operations and Indian operations which is much worst then people on H1B who pay taxes and living expenses in US and hence boost the economy.
 Tin replied to:  Tim 
 post - 10 Jun, 2009

30: Trutly , highly QUALITY professioanalS. I have seen typical H1B's are 30% more efficient then normal americans and if this at reduced cost that means silicon valley
 John replied to:  Tim 
 post - 10 Jun, 2009

31: THe recession is not the cause of high unemployment.

High unemployment is the CAUSE of the recession.

This bill will address this and passage of this bill will be the start of the recovery.
Mark my words.
Posted by: Observer - 10 Jun, 2009

32:Frankly speaking as an outsider to this whole controversy...i think the one who is to blame is all the big guys/corporations who want to make a lot of money at the expense of American people. I know cases of some very big american corporations like IBM floating companies and then getting people here on L1 and H1 to fill positions here..they use the current loopholes in the law and pay the low salaries and the techies have no choice and are bound like bonded laborers..well if it a highly required skill then why dont they sponsor their green card..cause they want to bill 175- 200 USD an hour but pay the guy 60-70K PA. Well i think the solution should be remove the cost advantage..let H1 be employer independent (As it is around the world with work permits), more scrutiny on experience and skills, so that it is not exploited by these companies to bring in cheap labor...and i believe if it angers americans..so does it anger indians or chinese or other immigrants who come here in pursuit of the american dream..leaving behind their families and selling of everything and coming to the land of opportunity and get paid peanuts...well there are always bad apples in the lot everywhere but the really talented people get screwed in the middle...americans as well as immigrants looking for a brighter future..lets not make it american vs Indian or american vs Chinese etc...this is about what is right and what is wrong...and what cannot also be denied is that America has been and will always be the land of opportunity and innovation and to maintain that edge it will need to bolster Americans as well as get good talent from around the world...
 saturn replied to: Observer 
 post - 11 Jun, 2009

33:Well , the real enemy is OUTSOURCING and not H1B since they actually allow to keep the projects in US.If you have cheap and good resources in US then why would you want to move the projects to cheap locations.So outsourcing can only be cut by H1B\'s or else this recovery will leave painful marks which will keep bleeing for a long time to come.
 George replied to: Observer 
 post - 10 Jun, 2009

34: This bill will pass. India Inc. does not vote for senators or congressmen. Displaced and unemployed U.S. workers and their family members and neighbors vote.

Any senator or congressman who votes against this bill will have to explain why they do not want to reduce fraud and abuse, or why they are against protecting U.S. workers jobs.

The bill did not pass the last time because it was part of a larger controversial CIR bill which had many other proposals the U.S. citizens did not like, such as amnesty.

By itself it will pass. The test of the bill was in the TARP bill, which passed overwhelmingly. Elected officials know which side their bread is buttered on, and they all want to be re-elected.
Posted by: Pete - 10 Jun, 2009

35: You can never tell. The Democrats owe it to their voters to create jobs. It is no way justifiable that a US company being subsidized by US taxpayers money should prefer outsourcing to hiring local candidates. Are you going to start explaining economics and free trade to a laid off US IT worker?
Posted by: Rex - 10 Jun, 2009

36:50/50 is still too high. 10% h1b is enough.
 AAA replied to: Rex 
 post - 10 Jun, 2009

37: I can bet this bill wont pass. i am sure there is enough pressure from India Inc to not to do so.
Posted by: kriti sharma - 10 Jun, 2009

38:is this also tring to restrict the # of L1 visas also? otherwise all the compines are going to send the people thru teir L1 visa
 Subra replied to: kriti sharma 
 post - 10 Jun, 2009

39: I actually bet this bill is gonna passed. The reason US companies are outsourcing to india or any other countries is because the US govt. doesn't provide tax exemptions to them. Like in India we have IT/industrial zones which provide tax exemption if they have their facility in that zone. for IT its STPI (software technology parks of india). So if JPMorgan has its premises in the STPI, it gets an tax waiver...may be US govt need to have such a kind of policy to attract the local companies.
 shrikant shivpuje replied to:  Subra 
 post - 11 Jun, 2009

40: Regardless of whether or not this bill will pass, US corps will continue to hire h1bs. And once the rescission begins to recover, the Govt. will not make any moves on this issue. Americans will stop accusing foreign professionals, because they'll get busy with their jobs. Keeping your eyes blind on the fact that "America is facing tech worker shortage" doesn't help in blocking the foreign professionals that are holding degrees from American Universities. You can't tag them "Data Entries" anymore, once the market will recover. All this issue, to me, seems like a "time killing drama" for the JOBLESS while the rescission passes. Mark every point of my comment, this WILL HAPPEN. Things will get back to normal soon.
 Sam  replied to: shrikant shivpuje 
 post - 14 Jun, 2009

41: very true..political drama...happens around the world..once the economy is recovered who will ever go back to see what all bills were proposed or promises made...everyone would be busy with their own lives...Americans or H1's ...everyone would be busy making their missed out dollars..
 Yesukumar replied to: Sam 
 post - 14 Jun, 2009

42:First Of all the Federal Government is Corrupted.

They have hired ton's of H1B's in these federal Organizations

Small Business administration
Department of interior
DEpartment of Education
National Institute Of health
Pension Benefit Gaurantee Corporation

If H1b's are removed from these Organizations, I am sure there will be lot of citizens will benefit with Jobs
 Jim Stevens  replied to: Yesukumar 
 post - 16 Jun, 2009

43: I don't understand any of what you said
For the last 6 months I have been trying to
Hire a software developer and 7 out of 10 resumes are from
Of Indians and rest Chinese
Americans don't have skillsets for it jobs
 American  replied to: Jim Stevens 
 post - 19 Jun, 2009
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