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.

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.