The Times of India

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Want a green card? Study in US
18 May, 2007 l 0035 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK



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NEW DELHI: Get a master's degree from a US university and you could be sitting on an immigration goldmine.

According to reports, a new US Senate proposal would allow limitless H-1B visas and green cards for foreigners with master’s degrees or higher in any field from an American university — or anyone with such credentials in the science, technology, engineering or math fields from abroad.

This week is immigration reform week in the US Congress, as it battles issues like border fencing and temporary worker visas. Like other competing proposals in Congress right now, the 'Skilled Worker Immigration and Fairness Act', introduced on Tuesday by senators Joseph Lieberman and Chuck Hagel, also proposes raising the existing annual cap on the controversial H-1B visas from 65,000 to 115,000 for fiscal year 2007.

That number could climb by 20% in each subsequent year, to as high as 180,000 if the previous year's quota was exhausted.

Right now, there's also a 20,000 visa cap beyond the existing H-1B quota for foreigners who have advanced degrees in the US. The new Senate Bill would remove that cap. It would also broaden the exemption from the H-1B limit beyond just those with advanced degrees to include foreigners with 'medical specialty certification based on post-doctoral training and experience in the United States'.

A broad House of Representatives immigration Bill known as the Strive Act contains a similar approach. Commerce minister Kamal Nath has warned of dire consequences if H1-B visas are made a political issue.

But this will become more and more politicised as the US heads for presidential elections in 2008. "Outsourcing" was an issue in the 2004 elections and there is every evidence that it will be one this time as well.

According to government sources, the private sector is woefully inadequate to tackle this perception in the US, even though Nasscom has proposed a "professional visa" which has been forwarded in the CEO's Forum between US and India.

In a statement, Lieberman, who may even run for president in 2008, said, "To remain competitive, American companies need access to highly educated individuals. But today's system makes it difficult for innovative employers to recruit and retain highly educated talent, which puts the US at a competitive disadvantage globally."

The Bill also safeguards these H1-B visas from abuse — it would prohibit companies from advertising jobs solely to H-1B immigrants or indicating preference for such workers. It would limit the number of employees on H1-B to no more than half a company's workforce. It would also double fines for employers that violate H-1B programme requirements.

The Bill drew immediate applause from Microsoft, whose high-powered chairman Bill Gates recently urged Congress again to allow for infinite quantities of the work permits.

But there are other groups that prefer a Bill introduced earlier this year by two other senators, Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin that attempts to prevent H-1B abuse by imposing a number of new obligations on employers.

High-tech companies have protested these obligations as too overbearing. Employers would have to certify that they had made a "good faith" effort to hire an American before taking on an H-1B worker and that the foreigner was not displacing a prospective US worker. That Bill's sponsors on Monday issued inquiries to a number of Indian companies, targeting statistics showing some of them were among the top 20 H-1B recipients last year.

Critics of the exemption clauses say the vast majority of companies that hire foreign workers through the H-1B visa programme do not have to prove, or even declare, that they have searched for American workers first. They say, the lack of such rules is a problem and should be changed, especially as Congress considers increasing the number of H-1B visas. Only companies with more than 50 employees where at least 15% are H-1B workers are required to attest that they tried to find US workers.

Those businesses, deemed 'H-1B dependent,' constitute 10% or less of total H-1B users.