In hitting US shores, Indians are second only to Mexicans
NEW DELHI: If flights to the US were already full, they’re set to get crammed thanks to the growing bonhomie between the two countries.
US ambassador David Mulford said on Thursday that 8 lakh visas were expected to be issued to Indians this year for both business and pleasure, making India the second largest source of travellers to the US — after Mexico. “And we don’t even share a border with India,” said Mulford.
There was also good news for work visas and a windfall in FDIs. US-sourced FDI to India was set to touch $1 billion, breaching by several hundred millions the last highs. A senior trade official pointed out, “The India-Russia bilateral trade is less than the pledged investment by IBM alone.”
The surge in the number of Indians travelling to the US — last year 5 lakh visas were issued — is only matched by the rush for H1B visas. Having filled the quota in May 2006, this year, it’s largely believed to breach its cap by April 15. Two years ago, the H1B quota finished on August 9. Last year, it finished on May 25.
US president George Bush has publicly advocated raising the H1B cap, giving a bigger profile to the immigration debate currently raging in the US. “We’ve got to expand what’s called H1B visas… I feel strongly about what I’m telling you. It makes no sense to say to a young scientist from India, you can’t come to America to help this company develop technologies that help us deal with our problems,” Bush had said.
The H1B visa programme is currently capped at 65,000. High-tech industry in the US and India has been lobbying, along with Indian-American advocacy groups, for increasing the cap to 115,000. Legislation to this effect failed to make the grade in the last Congress, and with elections coming up, its prospects this year are uncretain.
The contrast to travel patterns of the global Indian to Britain and other European countries could not be starker. With the British government effecting the highly skilled migration programme (HSMP visa) in December, it has actually constrained movement of skilled Indians. It took finance minister P Chidambaram to warn the UK in London last week that it would be the ‘loser’ if it did not relax immigration laws.
Little India Interview with Peter Kaestner, Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi
Via Little India
By: | |||
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Round 3: H-1B Battle – American engineers vs. senior Democrats!
By Dino Perrotti on Sun, 02/11/2007 – 6:56pm
Leading
Democrats struck American engineers with a powerful left-left combo
before the opening bell of round 3 of the H-1B battle. Senator Kerry
(D-MA) and Senator Kennedy (D-MA) attempted to secretly add an amendment to
the Minimum Wage bill last week. This earmark would have massively
increased the H-1B cap and could have dealt a death blow to countless
engineering careers across the country. With the immigration bill
still months away, two senior Democrats stepped into the ring to
demonstrate where their allegiance lies. It looks like it may be
“curtains” for the engineers of America.
First, senior Republican Senators Cornyn and Shadegg secretly
attempted to earmark an H-1B increase into the India-Nuke bill. Now,
senior Democratic Senators Kerry and Kennedy secretly attempt to do the
same with the Minimum Wage bill. The President campaigns in favor of
expanding the program while his administration has not been enforcing
the current cap.
For the last several years, ordinary citizens have been begging the
government to reform the program, yet their voices are muted by those
in power. Why would all of these Senators secretly attempt to amend
H-1B provisions onto bills which are completely unassociated with
immigration? It would appear to the average voter that tech company
lobbyists wield unimaginable influence and control over the very
highest levels of our government.
It looks like a duck
It hardly seems necessary to even continue this battle. After all, the
fight is fixed. The H-1B cap has not been enforced under this
administration, so why would Kerry and Kennedy bother to attack
middle-class engineers when they are already de facto defeated?
The Democrats are supposed to be attempting to reach out to the
middle-class by raising the minimum wage. The truth is that the
minimum wage only affects people living at the poverty level. It
should be raised, but so should the salaries of America’s
professionals, who are feeling squeezed by politics such as this.
Engineering salaries have been stagnant for the last decade due to the
H-1B law and outsourcing.
Why would these two senior Democrats make the same “secret” move
that the senior Republicans just tried? Perhaps members of both
parties are competing for those huge tech company campaign
contributions but do not want the public to know about their actions.
This leads us to confront the ugly question of whether legal variations
of graft have deeply infected both major parties. If that is true,
then who can you trust?
Who do you vote for when the most powerful members of both major
parties are equally trying to destroy your livelihood? It seems that
the days of voting straight down the line for one party or the other
are over for U.S. citizens. Americans will have to pay closer
attention to the specific positions that each candidate supports and
votes for. Americans will also have to pay closer attention to the
flow of campaign contributions to political candidates. And it is not
easy to track all the players in this congressional battle.
Let’s get ready to rumblllllllllllll…!
In one corner are the tech companies and their highly paid lobbyists
who want to dramatically increase the H-1B cap without considering any
reform at all. They’re represented by some of the most powerful
members of our government who support expanding the H-1B visa program
as it is. They are:
President Bush (R-TX)
Senator Cornyn (R-TX)
Senator Shadegg (R-AZ)
Senator Kerry (D-MA)
Senator Kennedy (D-MA)
Senator Specter (R-PA)
Senator Boehner (R-OH)
In the other corner are American engineers and informed middle-class
voters who want intelligent immigration reform. They are represented
by a minority of members of both parties who are against expanding the
H-1B visa program without reforming it first. They are:
Senator Webb (D-VA)
Senator Tancredo (R-CO)
Congessman Pascrell (D-NJ)
It looks like the odds of American engineers winning this fight are
microscopically low. Dazed and confounded by the pervasive power of
their opponents, they stand wearily in the middle of the ring, as if to
simply prove they’re still there. If there are no more underhanded
attempts to earmark any other bills, the fight will be won or lost
fairly in the immigration reform bill coming up in congress. The
Judiciary committees of the House and Senate are responsible for
drafting any reform or adjustment to the cap.
Apocalypse Soon: The Judiciary Committee battles
If the House of Representatives members
are not sympathetic to this cause, all may be lost. If they increase
the cap, and the Senate follows suit, engineers may again be forced out
of their jobs and out of their professions. If that happens, American
engineering careers will be knocked out for good. American students
will be discouraged further from entering math and engineering fields.
Tech companies will get their cheap labor and America will have lost
her soul. The stakes could not be any higher.
Many new House members are largely unaware that there are H-1B
problems. Voters in the states listed below have the most power to
influence the first draft of the H-1B immigration reform bill. Anyone
who lives in one of these states and wants to be a part of this fight,
should contact their representatives. These are the states with the most House members in the Judiciary Committee:
Florida
Hon. Wasserman Schultz (D)
Hon. Keller (R)
Hon. Wexler (D)
Hon. Feeney (R)
California
Hon. Berman (D)
Hon. Lofgren (D)
Hon. Waters (D)
Hon. Sánchez (D)
Hon. Sherman (D)
Hon. Schiff (D)
Hon. Gallegly (R)
Hon. Lungren (R)
Hon. Issa (R)
Virginia
Hon. Boucher (D)
Hon. Goodlatte (R)
Hon. Scott (D)
Hon. Forbes (R)This is a list of members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:
Patrick J. Leahy, CHAIRMAN (D-VT)
Arlen Specter, RANKING MEMBER, (R-PA)
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)
Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)
Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD)
Sam Brownback (R-KS)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
The above men and women are the political warriors who will decide
the fate of the next major H-1B battle. It doesn’t look good for
engineers. Many of the members of these commitees are highly funded by
tech company lobbyists. However, new members of congress who may not
be members of this committee, but have broad support among voters, may
also become powerful players in this battle.
Mr. Webb goes to Washington
Is there any member of congress who has the “right stuff” to make a
difference in Washington? Is there an American who has the proper
qualifications, someone who is not beholden to special interests
groups, and someone we can trust? One person is newly elected Senator
Jim Webb, an intelligent military man with a son in Iraq and a genuine
concern for the middle-class. He does not believe in the myth of the
high-skilled labor shortage and wants to reform the H-1B program. He
may soon become a leader in congress and his honor is beyond reproach.
Jim Webb is proof that elections can be won without receiving massive
campaign contributions from special interests groups.
Senator Webb showed his mettle when, instead of getting seduced by
President Bush’s presence, he confronted the president on the Iraq
war. The President insisted on asking Webb about his son, who is
currently serving in Iraq. “That’s between me and my boy Mr.
President”, Webb told the the President. At that moment, Senator Webb
sent a message to senior members of the government that he is there to
do the people’s business. With a few more people like Jim Webb,
Americans might actually be able to wrestle back control of the country
from the tight grips of big business.
Round 3: Fight recap
So to recap, the tech companies have in their corner, the President and
most senior members of congress. American engineers have in their
corner, only a few newer members of congress, a few awakening news
outlets, and an active grass-roots movement.
American engineers may want to just throw in the towel and begin to
look for other types of work at this point. But the fight’s not over
yet, in fact, this may actually be a victory for American engineers and
other high-skilled professionals. If the Minimum Wage bill passes
without another attempt to slip in an H-1B provision, then American
engineers and the middle-class will win this round. The larger battle
may still seem all but lost, but American engineers have a
not-so-secret weapon of their own.
Right makes might
American engineers may have one indomitable defense in this brawl.
They have the moral high ground. It’s hard to beat a fighter who’s
fighting for a just cause. Many government reports
have reported continuing abuse and corruption within the H-1B visa
program. Many victims of abuse and experts in the field have testified
to congress about such abuses in the system. Millions of Americans
empathize with this battle as part of a larger war on the
middle-class. It will be difficult for politicians to face their
voters, debating in favor of blindly expanding this program.
Eventually enough voters will become informed and elect new leaders
accordingly. Then maybe graft will be eliminated or at least
marginalized in our government.
Dubai Ports + amnesty = H-1B
Like the Dubai Ports deal, this is a major homeland security concern
that does not sit well with the public. Like the Amnesty bill proposed
last year, this issue pits the will of the voters against the actions
of their representatives. Voters are getting frustrated with the
hypocritical actions within their government. How can politicians talk
about a war on terror while they remain mute about hundreds of
thousands of visas from the Middle-East and Southeast Asia which are
rubber-stamped by the department of immigration and homeland security
each year? How can they blatently state there is a skilled labor
shortage when so many experts in the business say none exists? It is mind-boggling to the average person.
The H-1B debate is shaping up to be ground zero for the larger
immigration battle soon to come. That is, of course if the debate is
allowed to openly take place.
Stay tuned for more fight coverage.
Collins grills agencies on foreign labor
Wednesday, December 6, 2006<!– © Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. :ap –>
Department of Labor and the Citizenship and Immigration Service, asking
what their agencies have done to address problems in foreign-labor
programs that were detailed in a recent Portland Press Herald/Maine
Sunday Telegram investigation.
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. It’s the first
official call for answers from federal authorities since the
newspaper’s series ran in late September.
and the permanent green-card system. H1B visas let skilled foreign
workers such as engineers, programmers and accountants work in the
United States for three years, with a three-year extension. Green cards
let foreigners live and work here indefinitely.
company and the location listed on the visa applications, we have no
assurance that the true purpose of the visa applicant is not to enter
the U.S. to commit terrorist acts or to otherwise harm our citizens,”
Collins wrote in both letters.
Emilio T. Gonzalez, director of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration
Service in the Department of Homeland Security, and included copies of
the newspaper series.
back a decade that raised concerns about the Department of Labor’s role
in the foreign-labor certification process for the H1B visa program.
The investigation showed that the department performed very little
oversight of the program, and was seen as merely a “rubber stamp” by
its own inspector general.
opened tiny offices or leased cubicles in Maine and other rural states
in 2004 and early 2005 and filed immigration papers for thousands of
foreigners who were supposed to work here. In many cases, the
companies’ connection to Maine was tenuous. In several instances,
landlords had never heard of the companies that called their buildings
home on federal applications.
Tech Lobby to Renew H1B Visa Reform Effort
VIA CIO
As Democrats take over leadership of both houses of the U.S.
Congress from Republicans, technology industry lobbyists will try again
to push for worker visa reform.
Legislation to allow more highly skilled foreign workers to come to
the United States and stay longer failed in the last session of
Congress, but it will be reintroduced in the next session, said Andrea
Hoffman, vice president of TechNet, a lobbying group for technology
companies.
TechNet is pushing for three reforms, Hoffman said: Increasing the
number of H1B visas granted annually to foreign workers employed
temporarily at U.S. companies; granting employment-based visas to
workers whose H1B visas are about to expire but whose application for
lawful permanent residency (commonly known as a “green card”) is
backlogged; and allowing foreign workers who earn advanced degrees at
U.S. colleges and universities to stay and work in the United
States once they graduate.
Important USCIS Memo Clarifies Periods of Admission for H and L Nonimmigrants
Via AILA
12/21/2006
A December 5, 2006 memo from Michael Aytes, USCIS Associate Director, Domestic Operations, provides guidance on the period of admission for H-4s and L-2s, applicants for H-1B status beyond the six-year maximum, and for H-1Bs who have been out of the U.S. for more than 1 year, but were not in H-1B status for a full 6 years. The memo clarifies that time spent in H-4 or L-2 status does not count against the maximum allowable period of stay available to principals in H-1B and L-1 status, and that qualifying H-1B aliens need not be in H-1B status when requesting an extension beyond the six-year maximum. Revisions to Chapters 31.2(d), 31.3(g) and 32.6 of the Adjudicator’s Field Manual (AFM Update 06-29) are included in the memo.
Immigrants Help U.S. Business; H-1B Cap a Threat
By RICHARD SPRINGER
Via India-West Staff Reporter
Immigrants in the U.S. from 1990-2005 founded 25 percent of all public
venture-backed companies and about 40 percent of the high-technology
start-ups operating today, according to a study issued recently by the
Arlington, Va.-based National Venture Capital Association.
Immigrant-founded or co-founded companies achieved a market capitalization of more than $500 billion in the 15-year period.
`India should open up Govt. IT procurement’
Via The Hindu
Staff Correspondent
|
increase in H1B visas by the U.S. Govt. suggested
CHENNAI: If India needs to be a global player ITIF is a non-profit and non-partisan public “Indian government procurement market is not The weighted average tariff in India was 28 Quoting an AT Kearney’s Foreign Direct The manufacturing productivity in India and
Mr. Atkinson advocated an increase in H1B visas Mr. Atkinson said Russia and China were posing |
Legal immigrants to U.S. face green card logjam
Via Washingtonpost.com
11/29/2006
PHOENIX (Reuters) – Following all the rules, Indian
national Sanjay Mehta came to the United States on a temporary
work visa in 1997, hoping to build a glittering career in the
fast-moving information technology sector.
But nine years later his application for a green card
remains snarled up in a bureaucratic logjam, and he looks with
frustration at the strides made by illegal immigrants who he
says simply jumped the fence from Mexico.
US tightens screening of 2006 nursing board passers
DOES the stigma attached to the country’s latest batch of nurses remain?
An American organization that determines the eligibility of
foreign-trained nurses to work in the United States is not about to
accept – just yet – applicants from among the passers of the tainted
June 2006 nursing licensure exams.
In a statement posted at its website, the Commission on Graduates of
Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) said it was still reviewing “whether
the licensure process followed in light of the challenged results of
the June 2006 exam is comparable with that required for nurses licensed in America, as required by U.S. law.”
After the evaluation, the CGFNS said it would determine “in the near
future” whether the June batch applicants were eligible for VisaScreen
certification.
VisaScreen refers to the program offered by the CGFNS’ International
Commission on Healthcare Professions that helps foreign health care
professionals qualify for certain occupational visas. It does so by
“verifying and evaluating their credentials to ensure that they meet
the government’s minimum eligibility standards.”
California Service Center To Stop Faxing Premium Processing Approval Notices
USCIS PRESS RELEASE
Effective December 1, 2006, the California Service Center (CSC) will no longer fax approval notices for
premium processing cases. Due to a significant increase in receipts and the time expended on faxing copies of
the notices, we are eliminating this step of the process. This change in process will increase efficiency and
allow our customers to receive notices in a more timely manner. The CSC will continue to fax all requests for
evidence relating to premium processing cases.
Wipro CEO: U.S. Needs More H-1B Tech Workers
By Paul McDougall
Nov 1, 2006 at 01:08 PM ET
“In his book Bangalore Tiger, BusinessWeek
writer Steve Hamm recounts how a shortage of temporary worker visas all
but crippled the attempts of Indian outsourcer Wipro to win a bigger
chunk of business at General Motors after 9/11. Last week, I dined with
Wipro CEO Azim Premji. He told me that things haven’t changed much.
Over entrees at a modest bistro in midtown Manhattan, Premji was arguing that the U.S. economy needs an influx of foreign tech
workers now more than ever. “Attrition levels in New York are higher
than in India,” said Premji, who, despite his status as one of India’s
richest men, ordered the meatloaf (as did I. Hey, if it’s good enough
for him…).
Premji believes that a shortage of U.S. tech workers, combined with the fact that the H-1B program
is currently capped at 65,000 visas, is creating headaches for both
Indian outsourcers and their customers–which have come to include
virtually all major U.S. corporations. “There’s not enough qualified
labor to go around,” said Premji, between bites.
Outsourcers perform most of their work from remote, low-cost
locations, but nonetheless need some highly skilled employees to work
on-site at customer premises in the U.S.”
The U.S. Immigration Law Blog by Ashwin Sharma 
How to Keep the U.S. Competitive – Washington Post Editorial by Microsoft’s Bill Gates
Article By Bill Gates
For centuries people assumed that economic growth resulted from the interplay between capital and labor. Today we know that these elements are outweighed by a single critical factor: innovation.
Innovation is the source of U.S. economic leadership and the foundation for our competitiveness in the global economy. Government investment in research, strong intellectual property laws and efficient capital markets are among the reasons that America has for decades been best at transforming new ideas into successful businesses.
The most important factor is our workforce. Scientists and engineers trained in U.S. universities — the world’s best — have pioneered key technologies such as the microprocessor, creating industries and generating millions of high-paying jobs.
But our status as the world’s center for new ideas cannot be taken for granted. Other governments are waking up to the vital role innovation plays in competitiveness.
This is not to say that the growing economic importance of countries such as China and India is bad. On the contrary, the world benefits as more people acquire the skills needed to foster innovation. But if we are to remain competitive, we need a workforce that consists of the world’s brightest minds.
Two steps are critical. First, we must demand strong schools so that young Americans enter the workforce with the math, science and problem-solving skills they need to succeed in the knowledge economy. We must also make it easier for foreign-born scientists and engineers to work for U.S. companies.
Education has always been the gateway to a better life in this country, and our primary and secondary schools were long considered the world’s best. But on an international math test in 2003, U.S. high school students ranked 24th out of 29 industrialized nations surveyed.
Our schools can do better. Last year, I visited High Tech High in San Diego; it’s an amazing school where educators have augmented traditional teaching methods with a rigorous, project-centered curriculum. Students there know they’re expected to go on to college. This combination is working: 100 percent of High Tech High graduates are accepted into college, and 29 percent major in math or science, compared with the national average of 17 percent.
To remain competitive in the global economy, we must build on the success of such schools and commit to an ambitious national agenda for education. Government and businesses can both play a role. Companies must advocate for strong education policies and work with schools to foster interest in science and mathematics and to provide an education that is relevant to the needs of business. Government must work with educators to reform schools and improve educational excellence.
American competitiveness also requires immigration reforms that reflect the importance of highly skilled foreign-born employees. Demand for specialized technical skills has long exceeded the supply of native-born workers with advanced degrees, and scientists and engineers from other countries fill this gap.
This issue has reached a crisis point. Computer science employment is growing by nearly 100,000 jobs annually. But at the same time studies show that there is a dramatic decline in the number of students graduating with computer science degrees.
The United States provides 65,000 temporary H-1B visas each year to make up this shortfall — not nearly enough to fill open technical positions.
Permanent residency regulations compound this problem. Temporary employees wait five years or longer for a green card. During that time they can’t change jobs, which limits their opportunities to contribute to their employer’s success and overall economic growth.
Last year, reform on this issue stalled as Congress struggled to address border security and undocumented immigration. As lawmakers grapple with those important issues once again, I urge them to support changes to the H-1B visa program that allow American businesses to hire foreign-born scientists and engineers when they can’t find the homegrown talent they need. This program has strong wage protections for U.S. workers: Like other companies, Microsoft pays H-1B and U.S. employees the same high levels — levels that exceed the government’s prevailing wage.
Reforming the green card program to make it easier to retain highly skilled professionals is also necessary. These employees are vital to U.S. competitiveness, and we should welcome their contribution to U.S. economic growth.
We should also encourage foreign students to stay here after they graduate. Half of this country’s doctoral candidates in computer science come from abroad. It’s not in our national interest to educate them here but send them home when they’ve completed their studies.
During the past 30 years, U.S. innovation has been the catalyst for the digital information revolution. If the United States is to remain a global economic leader, we must foster an environment that enables a new generation to dream up innovations, regardless of where they were born. Talent in this country is not the problem — the issue is political will.
The writer is chairman of Microsoft Corp. and co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His wife is a director of The Washington Post Co.