Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant and eight other major corporations have been questioned by US Senators for filing thousands of H-1B skilled labour visa petitions after conducting "mass layoffs" of American employees.
'We sent just 500 people from India to the US on H-1B visas. There is no dependence on H-1B visas.'
Kash Patel, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the FBI, told lawmakers that he has faced racism while growing up. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patel said he had been subjected to threats after his personal information was released by Congress. Patel said he was called a "detestable sand nigger" and told to "go back to where you came from." He said his family members, including his father and mother, were present at Capitol Hill during the hearing. Patel said his father fled Idi Amin's genocidal dictatorship in Uganda, where 300,000 men, women and children were killed based on their ethnicity. He said his mother is originally from Tanzania. Patel said he believes that people who put politics and personal ambition over service to the country should be named and that Americans deserve transparency.
The Guantanamo Bay facility, which has so far been used to hold terrorists, will now also house illegal immigrants with criminal records.
A group of influential lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan legislation in the US Senate to comprehensively overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes and usher in more transparency in the recruitment of foreign workers. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
The new Grassley-Durbin bill would weaken the economy. Here's how to let the H-1B visa program strengthen the US instead.
Kurt Campbell, the White House Asia Coordinator, said that in his view India is the most important bilateral relationship for the United States in the 21st century.
A legislation has been introduced in the United States Congress for countering the Chinese propaganda by creating a new sanctions authority against state-backed disinformation networks.
H-1B visa reform bill introduced in US Senate
USIBC is pulling together a similar advocacy team like what they did during the US-India civil nuclear initiative.
Some American lawmakers and organisations want to torpedo the H-1B visa program.
The bill, the 'Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act' (HR 3012), which sailed through the US House of Representatives last week on a 389 to 15 vote, had been sent to the Senate for consideration.
The Durbin-Grassley Bill might have fallen through but large Indian information technology service providers are taking no more chance of being seen as job snatchers in the US.
Senator Chuck Grassley on Thursday wrote to the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, seeking investigation into B-1 visa programme, used by companies to hire foreign workers, not subject to the cap and the prevailing wage requirements of the H1-B programme.
The first phase of the trade deal includes IP protection and enforcement, ending forced technology transfer, dramatic expansion of American agriculture, removing barriers to American financial services, ending currency manipulation, rebalancing the US-China trade relationship and effective dispute resolution.
A strident bill concerning US work visas for non-US citizens has been re-introduced before the US Senate. A look at the bill.
Even as India reacted strongly against the proposed changes in the US visa regime, trade experts said the country could do little in multilateral forums like the World Trade Organization to appeal against implementation of such measures.
Nasscom, the apex body that represents the Indian IT outsourcing industry, will demand 'service visas' instead of mentioning H1-B/L1 visas.
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.
Two senators are probing how Indian outsourcing firms use U.S. work visas, with an eye on new restrictions.
Leading Indian and global information technology firms such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Cognizant Technology Solutions, IBM, Satyam Computer Services and Wipro top the list of L visa users for the financial year 2006-07.
A Nasscom letter to US senators calls for attention to the fact that there is a considerable body of evidence pointing to the contributions made by H-1B visa holders to innovation and entrepreneurship in the US.
According to Republican Senator Charles Grassley and Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, more companies are now using H-1B visas to displace qualified American workers.
High-tech industry bodies have welcomed the move to drop a hefty $3500 fee increase in the H1B visa programme, which would also benefit Indian professionals seeking jobs in the US. Hailing the move, they said the US must retain top talent from around the world to retain America's economic leadership.
The bill will attempt to toughen the H-1B visa program.
Senators Grassley and Durbin release more data showing that Tata, Infosys, and others are using U.S. work visas to their advantage
Despite an over 50 per cent drop in the number of H1-B visas issued to some Indian IT firms in 2007 against 2006, US Democrat senators Richard J Durbin and Charles E Grassley have written to nine Indian companies that figure among the top 25 recipients of approved H-1B visa petitions in 2007 seeking detailed information on how they use the visa programme.
'To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, You did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people's house.'
This comes after immense pressure on Zuckerberg from lawmakers, the media and the public after the Facebook founder last week apologised for data breach and said the platform had made "mistakes".
H-4 is issued to the spouse of H-1B visa holders, a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals from India.
The FBI chief said that in the last presidential elections, the Russians were not able to change the actual vote tally, but one day they might.
In a big relief to Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said the Democratic presidential candidate would not face any charges over allegations that she violated rules by using a private email server while she was US Secretary of State.
But Indian information technology workers might do better without the companies that held them back, says Mihir S Sharma.
In less than a week of Donald Trump being sworn in as the 45th US President, the "H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act" was introduced to prioritise American workers and restore fairness in visa programmes for skilled workers.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has for the first time acknowledged that it uses drone aircraft domestically for surveillance in a "very minimal way", even as the Obama administration grapples with the fallout from the public disclosure of its covert spying programmes.
It was expected to be a friendly Bill for the IT outsourcing industry
According to experts, while allegations against Indian IT firms of visa misuse are nothing new, this time the scrutiny could be much greater.
Why the proposed United States rule change for H-4 (dependent) visa holders is not enough and what you should do about it
'India is no longer the India of the '70s and the '80s.' 'It's a large country with the fastest growing economy.' 'In working with India, you just can't go and humiliate the nation publicly.' USIBC President Mukesh Aghi tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com about how he advises American companies to do business with India, what he thinks of Modi's government and the way forward for the India-US relationship.
Judge Srikanth 'Sri' Srinivasan is the front-runner to replace the late Justice Anthony Scalia on the US Supreme Court.
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