H-1B Visas – Are Restrictions Coming?
The USCIS has released information on what companies were issued H-1B visas in 2007. The top H-1B visa recipient at 4,559 was Infosys and number 2 was Wipro at 2,567—both Indian outsourcing companies.
The next eight of the top ten, in order were Satyam Computer (1,396), Cognizant Technology (962), Microsoft (959), Tata Consulting (797), Patni Computer (477), UST Global (416), i-flex Solutions (374) and finally Intel (369).
Unfortunately, critics of the H-1B system are using the fact that Microsoft and Intel are the only two traditional U.S. tech companies in the top ten as evidence of the fact that the system is not working as it was intended. Both Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who says the numbers “should send a red flag to every lawmaker”, and Richard Durbin (D-Ill) will be proposing restrictions in the next several months including a requirement that a company recruit for a U.S. worker before applying for an H-1B for a foreign worker. In the H-1B program, that kind of recruitment is not presently required.
The real issue, however, is the fact that the annual cap on H-1B visas is too low and U.S. companies are becoming less competitive in the global economy because of it. Bill Gates regularly testifies before Congress that the cap should be removed altogether so that companies like Microsoft can attract the best and the brightest from around the world (especially since they are often being educated in the U.S. in the first place). As Gates points out, what sense does it make to educate a foreign student in the U.S. and then tell him or her that they are not welcome to stay here to use their education and talents here. Here's a You Tube video of Gates speaking before students at Waterloo University on the need for a free flow of talent and why the H1-B cap should be lifted.
But with the economy faltering, with news that the U.S. jobless rate is climbing and now with news that H-1B visas are, in the view of many, not going where they were intended to go, no one should be surprised to see restrictions in the program in the near future.
