United States President Barack Obama, who pledged that enacting comprehensive immigration reform would be a priority in his second term, has rejected a Republican-sponsored immigration bill that would have created a new green card category for foreign students, reports Aziz Haniffa.
Called the US Citizenship Act of 2021, the legislation modernises the immigration system, and also proposes to eliminate the per country cap for employment-based green cards, a move that would benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals whose current wait period for legal permanent residency runs into several decades.
It is largely out of a frustration over Congress' inability to deal with illegal immigration that several states are either considering or enacting a record number of 'strongly worded proposals' targeting illegal immigrants, says The Washington Post.
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.
The beta of large IT firms has increased since 2008 and is expected to inch up further given the rising challenges.
Indian and Indian-American IT businesses are being scapegoated for abuse of the visa programme - using it for cheap, immobile labour - that actually pervades the entire industry.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on the fifth day of its deliberations that included 300 amendments to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill -- Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act -- passed it by 13-5 votes.
More companies can now get the visa rather than very few taking a lion's share.
Senators Orrin Hatch and Ted Cruz have introduced amendments to increase the annual H-1B visa cap from 65,000 to between 300,000 and 325,000.
The provisions of the bill related to the conditions on issuing H-1B visas is being opposed by Indian companies, who heavily rely in this category of work visas.
The provisions of the bill related to the conditions on issuing H-1B visas is being opposed by Indian companies, who heavily rely in this category of work visas.
A bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to eliminate the per country cap on employment-based Green Card, a move which is likely to benefit Indian IT professionals languishing over decades of waiting for the Permanent Resident Card. The legislation was introduced by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Congressman John Curtis. The Equal Access to green cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act, 2021 needs to be passed by the Senate before it can be sent to the White House for the president to sign it into a law. A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently.
The Indian IT industry has consistently protested the anti-outsourcing rhetoric of American politicians.
The president said he will be signing a number of executive orders over the next several days of the week.
In a bid to tighten visa rules, a draft bill in the British Parliament proposes to replace the five current application categories of immigrants with a clear-cut concept -- 'permission' -- to be in the country.
.jpg)
A letter issued on Monday was jointly addressed to the US commerce secretary and trade representatives.
Describing as a 'shameful decision' to change the conditions of the highly skilled migrants programme affecting thousands of Indians, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Lord Navnit Dholakia has urged the Gordon Brown government in Britain to rectify the mistake.
Trump told reporters that his administration will not tolerate firing of hardworking Americans in pursuit of cheap foreign labour.
Even as outsourcing demand from Europe revives after the debt crisis, data protection regulations in the region governing trans-border data flows could hurt the $108 billion Indian IT-ITeS industry.
Top management of high-tech companies have been asking the US government to rework their Senate immigration bill to allow them to hire more foreign workers.
The depreciating rupee against dollar has a short-term benefit for the IT industry and the sector should not depend on currency management for profits, a top functionary of industry body Nasscom said.
Do you support this move by the US Governors? Do you think Indian would benefit should H1-B visas be increased?
Thirteen governors in the United States have written to senior senators urging the need to streamline the immigration laws in the country.
A Bill to double the number of H-1B visas to 115,000, with the option of raising the limit 20% annually is now pending before US Congress.
"I am on the side of the bishops' conference," Francis said.
Obama said a lot of foreign students come to USA to study.
However, an optimistic Obama said, "I promise you, though, that sooner or later immigration reforms will get done."
Nasscom's current president Som Mittal's term expires in January. However, Chandrasekhar, expecting to get the necessary approvals from the government soon, will start work from next month to get familiar with the organisation.
Modi will meet US President Barack Obama at the White House on September 29-30.
IT companies have, in recent times, re-invested gains arising from a weaker rupee.
In the past five years, the US has seen nearly two dozen Bills on employment visas introduced without success. But this time it is different, industry sources tell Ayan Pramanik.
Nasscom had estimated 12-14 per cent growth for the Indian software services industry in FY'14, and it aimed to achieve revenue of $300 billion for the IT industry by 2020.
The Street is especially looking forward to the management commentary to get a sense of its new direction
United States Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernisation Bill, 2013 has not yet been enacted.
Chidambaram expressed India's discomfort on the immigration issue
.jpg)
While cost pressures could partly offset the expected gains, given the currency hedging by companies the gains will not accrue immediately.
US India Business Council president Ron Somers wrote in an article that India is not only the world's third-largest economy but is also a stabilising force in a region known to be a 'tough neighbourhood'.
The US president says 'we're going to keep families together' after facing huge backlash for his 'zero tolerance' stance.
In his statement, Obama alleged that instead of advancing commonsense reform and working to fix the immigration system, House Republicans have voted in favor of extreme measures like a punitive amendment to strip protections from 'Dreamers'.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances