http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News/H1- ... 791756.cms

H1-B visas: A booster coming?

NEW DELHI: The H1-B visas debate may catch flame again in the US, with the President-elect Barack Obama picking Janet Napolitano as secretary of
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Arizona Governor Napolitano is said to be a strong advocate of increasing H-1B visas.

In testimony, speeches and a letter sent to congressional leaders, Napolitano, a two-term governor, has left a clear trail of support for increasing the H-1B visa cap to address what she has argued is a shortage of skilled workers, according to technology site Computer World.

The new DHS secretary is said to be among the 12 governors who had sent a letter in September 2007 to congressional leaders in both parties urging a hike visa cap. The governors reportedly wrote, "Until we are able to address this workforce shortage, we must recognize that foreign talent has a role to play in our ability to keep companies located in our state and country; and therefore, need to ensure the increase availability of temporary H-1B visas and permanent residency visas (green cards)."

These governors included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Also, Napolitano is expected to appear in late January or early February 2009 before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, whose chairman is Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman is reportedly to be both a critic and a defender of H-1B programme.

Lieberman is said to be more critical of the H-1B visa programme in 2004 than he seemed lately. In 2004, Lieberman issued two papers on offshore outsourcing. In one, "Data Dearth in Offshore Outsourcing: Policymaking Requires Facts", the senator lamented lack of data on H-1B visas. In the report, he raised the question about the role of H-1B and L-1 temporary visa programmes on offshore operations by US and foreign companies.

However, his stand seems to have softened lately, when this April, Lieberman co-sponsored the Global Competitiveness Act of 2008, which would have allowed the US to "recapture" 150,000 unused H-1B visas from prior years and redistribute them. The 85,000 cap includes 20,000 spots for people who hold advance degrees.

This was just few days after the H-1B visa cap of 85,000 was reached. So, with two H-1B votaries in DHS, can there be an H-1B booster in the offing?