The money generated, expected to be more than a billion dollar per annum, would be used to fund a biometric entry and exit tracking system
The Bill would impact only Indian companies.
'Unfortunately, today most ministers are busy with either election duty or praising duty. They are not interested in serving duty.' 'Ministers have become relaxed like retired people still holding onto jobs.' 'Look at how the NEET paper leaked. But there is no accountability.' 'After 12 years, they have become saturated. They are short of ideas.'
'Of course, people will have to carry documents all the time. There is overall uncertainty in living in the US.'
The Trump administration is reportedly moving ahead with its decision not to give work permits to the spouses of H-1B visa-holders, arguing that this displaces genuine American workers.
During his presidential campaign, Obama had pledged to make comprehensive immigration reform a top priority in his first year as President.
Economic experts fear massive layoffs in various sectors of the American economy due to the current economic distress that is only going to deteriorate in the coming months. A record 3.3 million Americans have filed initial jobless claims for the week ending March 21. Even as the peak of coronavirus in the US is two weeks away, millions of people in the country have lost their jobs.
Slamming American immigration policies, Microsoft boss Bill Gates has said the US was shutting the door on the best and the brightest at a time when the country needed it the most.
US President-elect Joe Biden plans to increase the number of high-skilled visas, including H-1B, and eliminate the limit on employment-based visas by country, both of which are expected to benefit tens of thousands of Indian professionals impacted by some immigration policies of the outgoing Trump administration.
The new rule stipulates that those who arrive on a work visa should work under the petitioner and not at a client's site.
The US remains the largest market for IT outsourcing, and for Indian giants TCS, Infosys and Wipro, it contributes around 40 per cent of their top line.
Most applicants of the H1-B visas, much sought-after by hi-tech professionals including Indians, are 'average' workers and not the 'innovators' as portrayed by industry lobbyists, a report has said, opposing the extension of the popular guest worker programmes. New data analysis shows that the vast majority of H1-B workers, including those at most major tech firms, are not the innovators industry portrays them to be, the Centre for Immigration Studies said in a statement.
India would confront a more entrenched China, a less dependable United States, and a regional order increasingly shaped by great-power bargaining over which it exercises limited influence, notes Amberish K Diwanji.
In what could be seen as a setback to Indian IT professionals, the US Senate has voted for imposing strict conditions on hiring of people with H-1B visas by American companies receiving federal bailout money.
Amid mass layoffs in the tech sector, the federal agency for immigration services has said it is wrong to assume that sacked workers holding the much-sought-after H-1B visas have to leave the country within 60 days, asserting they have multiple options to stay in the US. 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 issue was raised by the visiting CII's CEO Mission led by Bharati enterprise chairman Sunil Bharati Mittal, who among others met Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council, at the White House on Wednesday. During the meeting, the delegation comprising top Indian CEOs brought to the notice the concerns about the recent developments in the US with regard to H-1B work visa programme and certain provisions in the stimulus bill.
The current H-1B minimum wage of USD 60,000 was established in 1989 and since then has remained unchanged.
'Techies who did a master's there and moved to US companies look down on Indian companies who they consider as just doing body shopping.'
The US Representative criticised the administration's new USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visas, observing that Indians hold 70 per cent of these visas and saying the change directly harms workers who have long supported US innovation across technology, science and medicine.
President Donald Trump's executive order restricting entry of skilled foreign workers into the US, mainly on H-1B and L1 visas, has resulted in an estimated loss of $100 billion to companies in the US, a top American think-tank claimed. The executive order signed by Trump on June 22, that had temporarily banned issuing fresh H-1B and L-1 visas till December 31, caused a negative impact to the valuation of Fortune 500 firms equivalent to over $100 billion in losses, Brookings Institute said in a report released this week.
A presidential advisory sub-committee has recommended the federal government to extend the grace period for H1-B workers, who have lost their jobs, from the existing 60 days to 180 days so that the workers have enough opportunities to find a new job or other alternatives. "The immigration subcommittee recommends the Department of Homeland Security and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to extend the grace period for H1-B workers, who have lost their jobs, from 60 days to 180 days," Ajay Jain Bhutoria, member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, said on Tuesday. In his presentation, Bhutoria highlighted the significant challenges faced by H1-B workers laid off from their jobs.
More companies can now get the visa rather than very few taking a lion's share.
'New announcements are made every day which brings tremendous amount of instability and uncertainty.' 'Relying on America has become a big problem.'
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
Let's fix the system, end the abuses but make sure we recognise the role of immigrants in creating jobs: Khanna.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, Trent, State Bank of India, Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel were among the gainers. On the other hand, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics, Larsen & Toubro and HDFC Bank were the laggards.
The bill will attempt to toughen the H-1B visa program.
In addition, for those applying for certain L-1A and L-1B must submit an additional $4,500.
The Congress on its Twitter handle also criticised Modi's US visit.
The lawsuit seeks an order declaring the presidential proclamation restriction on issuing new H-1B or H4 visas or admitting new H-1B or H-4 visa holders as unlawful.
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.
Indian information-technology (IT) service providers are likely to report another quarter (July-September) of low, single-digit growth owing to macro uncertainties, chiefly emanating from America, with no respite in sight even in the second half of the year.
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.
Among Sensex firms, Tata Motors, Bharat Electronics, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Axis Bank were the major laggards. However, Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever, NTPC and HCL Tech were among the gainers.
India on Tuesday conveyed its concerns to the US on issues like H-1B visa fee hike, export control restrictions and outsourcing ban during a meeting between External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his counterpart Hillary Clinton in New York.
