A top US Democratic lawmaker, known for his pro-immigration credentials, has cast serious doubts on the ability of the Congress to finalise a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform law.
The Coalition's mandate is to spread the word that American competitiveness requires global integration, including value-added IT enabled support from overseas.
IT firms in the US are struggling to find quality and right number of professionals
According to the latest figure update by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, approximately 46,700 of the H-1B visas in the general category were filled up by September 25; against a Congressional mandated figure of 65,000.
India is taking up with the United States the issue of reduction of H1B visas for specialised workers, as it would affect movement of Indian software professionals to that country, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has said that the curbs on how many foreign workers US tech firms can bring into the United States should be done away with, according to news reports.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the measures to enforce the provisions of the new Employ American Workers Act (EAWA) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which prohibits hiring of H-1B visa holders by American companies who receive the federal aid money.
There has never been a moment in India's history when it has been so adrift in the world, so confused about what it stands for and against and so humiliated, asserts Aakar Patel.
Amid Trump's expected action against employment visas, India's bellwether IT firms reveal they have been preparing for this eventuality for years.
The Bill would impact only Indian companies.
The mandated Congressional cap is of 65,000.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that it has received sufficient number of applications to reach the mandated cap of 65,000 for working professionals for the fiscal ending September 30, 2010.
This is not a new rule, but very few people know about it.
In a move that is expected to hit Indian IT companies, the US government has decided to hike H-1B visa fee from next fiscal.
The Congress on its Twitter handle also criticised Modi's US visit.
As the US gets tougher with visas, the prayers of US-bound devotees in India are getting more fervent, and their purse strings looser. Called Visa Hanuman temples (there are half a dozen all over India), some of them ask for a 'fee'.
The bill will attempt to toughen the H-1B visa program.
Indian IT workers are paid considerably less than their American counterparts who have similar qualifications, making the H-1B visa programme "deeply flawed", according to a study.
Continued presence of such a problematic provision in the bill, which was passed by a key Senate panel on Tuesday, industry sources said would not only badly hit Indian IT companies, but also disrupt operational capabilities of a large number of key American companies as well.
In June, Disney had laid off about 250 employees.
An ongoing federal probe into H-1B visa fraud leads to 11 arrests and the indictment of IT services firm Vision Systems Group
US federal authorities have claimed to have unearthed a major H-1B visa racket with the arrest of at least 11 persons, most of them suspected to be of Indian origin.
Since early December 2008, Sreehari Gopalakrishnan has applied to 176 firms, and the rate of call back has steadily declined. "Earlier, it used to be from 20 to 30 places but now it is less than 10 per cent", says Gopalakrishnan, an analyst with a firm in Connecticut that does relocation management. With the current economic downturn and the housing slump, his company has several houses in its inventory worth millions of dollars.
The US Senate has approved a landmark immigration reform bill that would give citizenship to millions of illegal persons and double the number of H1-B visas from the present 65,000
This is the first time that the cap is reached on the first day of receiving the applications on April 2.
Two US lawmakers have asked nine foreign-based firms, including some leading Indian companies that used 20,000 of such visas, to disclose details about their workforce and their use of the special programme.
This measure to double the number of temporary visas to H-1B skilled-workers to 115,000 -- with an option of raising the cap 20 per cent more each year -- was buried in the Senate's giant 300-page Immigration Bill that got approved 12-6 on Tuesday.
Proposals to allow more high-technology foreign workers into the US are gaining ground in Congress despite assertions by labour and anti- immigrant lobbies that plenty of Americans are available to fill the jobs.
Applications for H-1B work visa for the fiscal year 2013 would be accepted from April 2.
With more than 1.2 million Indians stuck in green card backlogs, investor-driven EB-5 programme sees rising interest as a secure route for migration to the US.
US H1-B visa cap reached within 5 days for 3rd straight year.
Sikka said since more and more of the work is now becoming automated, the Indian IT companies need to focus much more on the innovative areas and on the new areas.
The number of applications filed for H-1B visa this year was around 40 per cent higher than a year ago.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, officially, has not come out on the number of H-1B applications received by it since April 1 when it started accepting petitions for it for the fiscal 2014 beginning October 1, 2013.
The current cap on H1-B visas could lead to a situation where those having the visas demand fatter salaries, which, in turn
He however said, US has been a very welcoming market for TCS and has provided it with a fair, open and competitive environment
Dr Vakil examines the current state of affairs regarding H-1B visa limits in America. How can you best maximise your chance of securing a visa? Read on
