H-1B Visas May Double: Report

The number of H-1B visas issued by the US could double under a proposed Senate immigration plan which would also remove the cap on the green card, a move likely to benefit Indian-American technology professionals but not the Indian companies.

The Senate immigration plan would dramatically increase the number of high-skilled foreign workers allowed into the country and give permanent legal status to an unlimited number of students who earn graduate degrees from US universities in science, technology, engineering or math, Washington Post reported quoting people familiar with the negotiations.

The plan, if passed by both the chambers of the US Congress - House of Representatives and the Senate - would meet one of the major demands of top American technology companies including Facebook, Google and Microsoft who argue that they are not able to find enough qualified workers in the US.

Given that India has the maximum qualified such professionals in the world, Indian-American technology professionals are likely to benefit from this.

But Indian companies are unlikely to benefit from this immigration reform, if some of the legislations introduced in the Congress are passed, including the one which was introduced by Senator Chick Grassley this week.

The Grassley resolution among other things ensures that an H-1B application filed by an employer that employs 50 or more US workers will not be accepted unless the employer attests that less than 50 per cent of the employer's workforces are H-1B and L visa holders.

"The agreement would be a major victory for the tech industry, which has backed an intense lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill in recent months arguing that Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other companies are having trouble finding qualified workers because of visa limits," the daily said.

"The expansion of the visas, known as H-1Bs, is one element of talks among a bipartisan group of eight senators, whose legislation is expected to serve as the basis for a deal between Congress and the White House to retool the immigration system.

"The number of visas available would approximately double from the current limit of 65,000 per year," The Washington Post said.

Indians Among Top 4 Sources For Business Studies in U.S.

Business-related programmes are the most popular single field of study among international students in the US with China, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia being the top four source countries, according to a new study.

However, among Indian and Saudi students business ranks third behind engineering and math, and engineering and English respectively, while it is the single-most popular field among Chinese and Korean students, according to World Education Services (WES).

This growth in the popularity of business programmes has paralleled, to a degree, the overall demand for undergraduate programmes at US institutions, the WES study on "International Student Mobility Trends 2013: Towards Responsive Recruitment Strategies" noted.

As a result, international undergraduate students in business studies grew by approximately 60 percent in the US between 2003 and 2011, with nearly three out of ten international undergraduates enrolled in business fields-a proportion that is now comparable to the UK and Canada.

The authors Rahul Choudaha, director of research and advisory services, and research associates Li Chang and Yoko Kono noted how student mobility patterns to the US have changed in the decade following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Due to visa policy changes and perceptions that the US had become a less welcoming host country for international students, enrolment growth stalled in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.

At that time, Indians represented the largest international student population, rising almost 12 percent in 2002/03 compared to just two percent among Chinese students-bucking an overall downward trend in enrolments that would last until the 2006/07 academic year.

Within a decade, that story has been turned on its head. Overall enrolments are again growing at a healthy level.

Chinese enrolments have been booming at an average annual growth rate of well above 20 percent since 2007/08, while Indian enrolments have stagnated and recently started a downward trajectory.

A look into the level of study reveals that India is a graduate market, but a combination of socioeconomic and demographic factors suggest an inflow of more Indian undergraduates in the coming years.

Three fourths of Indian students at the graduate level (77 percent) were enrolled in S&E fields, significantly higher than the concentration for international students overall (59 percent), according to WES.

In addition to aggressive outreach in traditional Asian markets, particularly China and India, the WES study highlighted the need for diversification of international student populations by place of origin.

Visa Problems prevent U.S. Indian Grads from nurturing their Dreams

The immigration laws in the U.S. are chasing away talented foreign students, who are forced to leave the country despite their highly skilled profiles, reports IANS.

Recently, Anurag Bajpayee and Prakash Narayan Govindan, two Indian post-doctoral mechanical engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came up with an innovative system, which disposes contaminated water from oil and natural gas hydraulic fracturing, in a cheaper and cleaner way.

According to reports by the Washington Post It "just might be a breakthrough that creates wealth and jobs in the United States and transforms the white-hot industry. That is, as long as the foreign-born inventors aren't forced to leave the country."

 The system developed by these young minds is termed as one of the top 10 "world-changing ideas" of 2012, by the Scientific American magazine.

But both of them will have to leave the U.S. soon since their student visas are about to expire. They will have to set up their company in India or somewhere else.

Indians and students of other countries studying in U.S. universities usually gets funding from U.S. taxpayers. Leon Sandler, executive director of MIT's Deshpande Centre for Technical Innovation says that to educate a single PhD student it costs around $250,000 and around 80 percent is paid by the government for the graduate research.

"Essentially we are funding their research, spending a quarter-million dollars in taxpayer money; then we make it hard for these people to stay here," Sandler was quoted as saying.

The Post reports that Bajpayee and Narayan doesn’t want to move to some other country such as Israel or Singapore, where the opportunities are less when compared to the U.S. If they don’t get the opportunity to nurture their dream in this country, then the next choice would be their own country.

Narayan also adds, "If it doesn't happen in the U.S., we will make it happen somewhere else."

If Obama's new immigration bill, which would create a ‘Lawful Prospective Immigrant’ visa for 11 million illegal immigrants living in America, is passed, it will prove to be a great relief to the foreigners settled here.