Thread: India protests discriminatory US immigration bill

India protests discriminatory US immigration bill
Published on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 09:54 | Updated at Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 10:07

The Indian government protested to Washington on Tuesday against what it called a highly discriminatory U.S. immigration bill that will double the cost of work visas for some high-profile Indian companies.

Indian outsourcing companies have come under criticism from some U.S. politicians who say they increase unemployment by outsourcing jobs to foreign workers.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a $600 million border security bill to send more federal agents to the Mexican border, to help tackle the politically sensitive issue of illegal immigrants ahead of Nov. 2 elections.

Funds for the bill will be raised through visa fee hikes that U.S. Senate aides say would affect India's Tata Consultancy Services , Infosys Technologies Wipro and Mahindra Satyam.

India's Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk expressing serious concern over the proposed legislation.

"Though the need of the U.S. government to strengthen their border security is understandable, it is inexplicable to our companies to bear the cost of such a highly discriminatory law," he said, according to a government statement.

Sharma said the bill would cost Indian companies an extra $200 million a year and hurt the competitiveness and commercial interests of those sending professionals to undertake projects locally for American clients in the United States.

The U.S. Senate approved the border security measures last week and the sponsor, New York Democrat Charles Schumer, said the bill was also targeted a small group of companies that he said exploited U.S. law to import workers from abroad.

Infosys said the visa fee hike would over time be passed on to customers as it was an industry wide issue.

Its chief executive Senapathy Gopalakrishnan said the new fees would in the immediate future have a minimal impact on India's second largest outsourcer.

www.moneycontrol.com

What? It's not enough that almost all our call centers are in India and we can't understand a word they're saying?

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

What? It's not enough that almost all our call centers are in India and we can't understand a word they're saying?

It's not just that call centers are being shipped over seas, but these Indian companies are setting up shop in the US and bringing in low level H1-B visa workers by the thousands. If you work in the high tech industry you've more than likely been affected by this.

I sent this email to my reps and have not gotten a response as of yet.

I'd like to know what you intend to do to stop the abuse of H1-B visa workers being brought to the US, mostly from India, to take jobs that Americans are fully qualified to fill. Isn't it enough that thousands of high tech jobs are being sent overseas? Now we're importing workers from India to fill high tech jobs in America under the guise that we don't have the talent in the US...that is an outright lie! You know as well as I do that this is not true and the real reason for this is that companies do not want to pay an American worker an American wage. I was the victim of being displaced by workers brought in from India in 2007. It had nothing to do with skill set or performance and everything to do with money. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard "why would we hire a worker in America when we can hire 5 guys in India for the same wage" I might have nice little nest egg for retirement. This is one of the saddest things that I have seen happen to this country and I'd like to know what you intend to do about stopping this corrupt practice.

The US is the last bastion of easy and cheap immigration in the developed world and those that wish to use/abuse that fact are terrified that we are finally standing up and trying to make our government say "No more!" with us. These same people have also figured out that crying racism and discrimination will have too much of our government falling all over it's self to "fix" it.

Sad.