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Rediff.com  » Business » Additional H1-B visas come with a rider

Additional H1-B visas come with a rider

By Aziz Haniffa in Washington DC
May 06, 2005 16:40 IST
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Why has the United States suddenly decided to announce an additional 20,000 visas to foreign workers in the H1-B category, mainly availed by Indian information technology professionals?

Sources say the US Citizenship and Immigration Services officially forwarded to the Federal Register regulations for publication on May 12 that an additional 20,000 H1-B visas under tremendous Congressional pressure to implement the H1-B Reform Act of 2004 to the letter.

But the additional 20,000 H1-B visas come with a rider.

These will be available 'solely to those aliens who have received a master's degree or a higher degree from a US institution of higher education.'

The USCIS said it would reopen the filing period for the (US) fiscal year 2005, beginning May 12, wherein US employers can submit applications for these 20,000 H1-B visas that are in addition to the Congressionally mandated annual cap of 65,000 H1-B visas, that were snapped up on October 1, 2004, the very first day of fiscal year 2005.

USCIS, revising its original order, announced on March 8 that the 20,000 additional H1-B visas would be thrown open for all qualified non-immigrant aliens, and not only for those graduating from a master's or a higher degree programme from an American college or university.

Congressional sources told rediff.com that lawmakers who had drafted the legislation -- for the additional 20,000 H1-B visas to be made available only for foreign students with a master's or PhD from an American institution of higher learning -- had 'gone ballistic' when USCIS had put out the announcement that all qualified non-immigrant aliens and not just those with an American degree could apply.

Sources said that the lawmakers had informed USCIS 'in no uncertain terms' that this could not be allowed because 'it is a misinterpretation of the law.'

There is a two-fold rationale, said sources, behind Congress allowing for this increase:

  • To restrict the additional visas to those who graduated from American institutions of higher learning vis-a-vis an incentive for foreign students to attend US universities, as it is a considerable revenue generator to these universities; and
  • To use the services of these students to work in the US and help America maintain its competitive edge in the information technology sector, instead of these students going off immediately to work in other countries that would pose a direct threat to the US industry.

One Congressional source told rediff.com that 'the framers of this legislation for the increased cap were assured support for it only if the ultimate benefit was to both American universities and industry.'

Many, who were against any increase in the number of H1-B visas as they believe that H1-Bs put Americans out of jobs for cheaper foreign skilled workers, would not have supported the legislation if it were just an increase in the number of H1-B visas with no strings attached, sources said.

Thus, when the USCIS threw open the additional visas to all qualified non-immigrants, 'these guys in Congress simply went ballistic and told the immigration guys not to open these visas to all skilled foreign professionals.

However, Chris Bentley, chief USCIS spokesman in Washington, denied that the agency succumbed to Congressional pressure and said, "What we did in March was that we released information saying that there was a possibility it (an advanced degree from a US institution) might be not be required. But in the conclusion review process, this was the determination that was made -- that the intent of Congress, the intent of the Reform Act, was to limit it to master's or higher degree holders from US institutions of higher learning."

"I wouldn't characterise our interaction with the Congress as ballistic or anything adversarial," he asserted. "What happens during the entire process is that we communicate back and forth and we try to make sure that we have open lines of communication so we know exactly what's happening--what each of our parties are thinking."

Asked why then the USCIS had pre-empted this review process and made an announcement that the additional 20,000 H-1Bs would be available to all qualified applicants, confusing employers as well as prospective visa-applicants, Bentley said, "It certainly was not meant to give anyone any false hopes. It was meant to be as open as we possibly could be about the process we were going through and to let people know exactly what we were thinking at the time."

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Aziz Haniffa in Washington DC
 

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