Legislation To Clamp Down On H1-B Visa Introduced In US House of Representatives

The new US administration today introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives which will, among other things, double the minimum pay of H-1B visa holders to $130,000. The minimum pay for H-1B visa holders in the US is currently marked at $60,000 and has remained unchanged since 1989.

The move will make it costlier for companies to hire foreign employees, pushing them to employ US citizens. Indian companies such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro use H-1b visas to send Indian nationals to work in the US. It will also affect US companies hiring foreign nationals to work for them in the US. Around 85,000 H1-B visas are issued by the US every year. Indian students and workers, who form a sizable chunk of those who receive these visas, will be most affected.

The changes introduced in this legislation "offers a market-based solution that gives priority to those companies willing to pay the most," Congressman Zoe Lofgren, who introduced the legislation, said. "This ensures American employers have access to the talent they need, while removing incentives for companies to undercut American wages and outsource jobs," he added.

Lofgren said that the per country cap on employment-based immigrant visas will also be removed. This will give equal opportunity to employees from all nations, he suggested. He informed that that legislation proposes to put aside 20 per cent H-1B visas for small and start-up employers having 50 or lesser employees.

"My legislation refocuses the H-1B programme to its original intent - to seek out and find the best and brightest from around the world, and to supplement the US workforce with talented, highly-paid, and highly-skilled workers who help create jobs here in America, not replace them," said Lofgren.

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