http://www.indiapost.com/members/story. ... ry_id=5191

WTO may discuss US immigration policy
India Post News Service

With focus on agricultural trade and whether the richer countries will grant expanded market access to commodities from the Global South, WTO summit meeting that is going to be held from December 13 will also witness a battle that is brewing between developing countries and the US government over immigration.

Led by India, several countries are demanding expansion of U.S. visa programs for temporary professional workers.

Under the global trade body's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), governments can regulate the supply of services performed by foreigners. The technical term for this type of service trade is Mode

4. Thus far, the types of visas being discussed are those for executives and highly skilled professionals, such as Indian software engineers who have come to work in the Silicon Valley and other high-tech hubs in the United States. Some developing countries are pushing for the Mode 4 talks to cover less-skilled workers as well.

The wrangling over visas is just one more example of the WTO's mission creep. Global trade rules are no longer aimed merely at eliminating tariffs on goods that cross borders. The ultimate goal of GATS, for example, is to lift barriers to all manner of services by curbing national and local government controls on the entry of global banks, insurance companies, and other service providers into each country's markets.

With the Hong Kong WTO summit only days away, negotiators appear to be deadlocked on many issues. Regarding Mode 4, the White House has thus far committed only to maintaining its current level of H-1B professional visas-65,000. To no one's surprise, Washington is also holding steady on the L-1 program, which grants an unlimited number of visas for professionals transferring from one division to another within the same company.

Although the Bush administration's reluctance to expand its visa offer has been a disappointment to Indian and other developing country trade negotiators, US officials might still be planning to use Mode 4 expansion as a bargaining chip. The time to undertake pre-summit creative deals is running short, but the Mode 4 matter is not expected to go away. No matter what happens in Hong Kong, the issue is bound to re-emerge in future talks.

The inclusion of migration in WTO discussions has stirred up a complex debate featuring unusual bedfellows. Powerful US corporate lobbyists have sided with developing country governments in favor of expanded Mode 4 access. On the other hand, many progressives here and abroad, including WTO critics and migrant rights groups, have come down on the same side as anti-immigrant groups and some congressional Republicans.