Washington: A Democratic Party bill, aimed at overhauling the immigration system introduced in House of Representatives this month, has sent alarm bells ringing among Indian IT firms as it includes provisions that would be detrimental to the businesses of such companies.
The bill (HR 15) introduced in the House by the Democratic Leader, Nancy Pelosi, and co-sponsored by several members of the Congressional India Caucus, carries the same killer provisions as the one passed by the Senate.
The killer provisions are in particular related to the much-sought after H-1B and L-1 visas.
“We support immigration reform legislation but this bill needs to strip out the harmful provisions,” said Ron Somers president of the US India Business Council.
USIBC has been opposed to the Senate version of the bill as well as both of them have provisions related to the H-1B and L-1 visas which are specifically targeted towards Indian IT companies. For instance in order to prevent H-1B workers from undercutting the wages paid to American workers, it requires that employers to pay significantly higher wages for H-1B workers than under the current H-1B program.
The Department of Labour will also decrease prevailing wage levels from four to three levels and update how each level is calculated. This would result higher costs for employers who use the H-1B programme.
Secondly, if a company’s workforce is 30-50 per cent H-1B or L-1 employees, companies must pay an extra USD 5,000 in fees per visa application. (PTI)
