Newly Proposed H1-B Visa Programme bill

• A bill backing key changes in the H-1B programme that allows skilled workers from countries like India to fill high-tech jobs in the US has been re-introduced in the US Congress with the claim that it will help crack down on the work visa abuse.

About Bill:

• The Bill prohibits companies from hiring H1-B employees if they employ more than 50 people and more than 50 per cent of their employees are H1-B and L-1 visa holders.
• The Bill encourages companies to recruit American workers. This provision would crack down on outsourcing companies that import large numbers of H-1B and L-1 workers for short training periods and then send these workers back to their home country to do the work of Americans. 
• It explicitly prohibits replacement of American workers by H1-B or L-1 visa holders.
• The Bill seeks to give the Department of Labour enhanced authority to review, investigate and audit employer compliance as well as to penalise fraudulent or abusive conduct.
• The Bill seeks to increase the minimum salary of H1-B visa holders to $1,00,000 per annum
• Currently, firms need not go through extensive paperwork if the potential H1-B employee has an equivalent of a Master’s degree or higher and he or she is paid at least $60,000 annually. The Bill aims to do away with the Master’s degree exemption (as “they are easily obtained by foreign workers”).

What is H1-B?

• H1-B is a non-immigrant visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act. It allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations. If a foreign worker in H1-B status quits or is dismissed from the sponsoring employer, the worker must either apply for and be granted a change of status to another non-immigrant status, find another employer, or leave the US.

Analysis:

• Curbing abuse of the H1-B system will protect American jobs and help ensure that visas are available for innovators who need them to maintain a competitive workforce. This bipartisan Bill makes one of the much-needed updates to our high-skilled visa system to level the playing field and help prevent companies from taking advantage of the system to offshore jobs.
• It will put a check on some companies who get away by employing cheap labour at the expense of American worker. The economy, being close to full employment, is on track to produce about 1.25 million jobs per year over the next four to five years
• Indians account for 60 per cent of H1-B visas issued by the US Government, mostly in the IT sector. The $143-billion Indian IT industry derives about $65 billion of total export revenues from US market alone.
• ‘Concern’ of politicians is that outsourcing results in loss of jobs for the locals who are short-changed by getting ‘cheap’ replacements from countries like India. But the fact is there are not so many ‘locals’ available with the required skill set.
• Data from US labour department shows that there is a shortage of skilled workers. Unemployment rates among skilled workers are around two per cent – anything less than four per cent is considered a shortage. Secondly, by 2018 there will be more than one million IT skilled jobs in the US that will remain unfilled due to lack of availability of skilled people in the country.
• The gap between employment growth in the service economy and losses on the goods side persists. Smaller companies are struggling to maintain payrolls while large companies are expanding at a healthy pace.

By: Vishal