The US is planning to win over developing countries to tone down their aggressive position on WTO farm negotiations by offering to increase the quota of the temporary H1-B visas.According to sources in Geneva, the offer is being made to leading countries of G-20.Under the US law, there is no fixed country-wise quota allocation for H1-B visas. The US Congress fixes the total cap on H1-B visas to be issued to foreigners.Companies interested in recruiting foreign workers would have to prove that by doing so there would be no impact in the US labour market and that there would be no lowering of prevailing wages by bringing in foreign workers in a specific sector or region of the country. They would also have to show that they were unable to find US workers for the job and that unemployment level was low in that sector. However, there are a variety of labour department rulings on whether these criteria are really met.The US has already relaxed norms for labour entry under US-Chile and US-Singapore free trade agreements through the passage of 108th Congressional legislation.In a coresspondence to Peter F. Allgeir, then acting US Trade Representative, P. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the Congress of US House of Representatives said: ‘‘I would urge you to reject these entreaties and also to reaffirm the commitment I received from former US Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick that this administration will not entertain any changes to American immigration or anti-trust laws in the context of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), or in any other multilateral or bilateral trade agreements.’’But in the conclusion, Semsenbrenner summed up by saying how the 108th Congressional legislation was passed for implementing US free trade agreements with Chile and Singapore. He finally said : ‘‘However, whenever the administration would like to propose legislative changes in the Immigration and Nationality Act of the US, I remain willing to give the proposals the most serious consideration.’’Sensenbrenner’s letter clearly indicates that the US is not prepared to give any leeway in Mode 4 negotiations for facilitating movement of natural persons under GATS. It is willing for relaxe provisions for H1-B visas as a sop to developing countries to tone down their agressive postures in farm negotiations.
