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Journalism of Courage
A new US immigration bill holds good and bad news for Indian IT
The proposed US immigration reform bill is an ambitious attempt to overhaul the countrys immigration procedures at both ends of the economic spectrum. Inevitably,political and media attention in the US will focus on the path to citizenship it lays out for some 11 million of the nations undocumented migrants,who are primarily Hispanic,given that the fast-growing population is emerging as a powerful voting block.
For Indian IT firms,thats where the good news ends. The H-1B visa has been criticised for allowing companies to employ foreign workers for lower pay than their American counterparts. At a time of relatively high unemployment,the new liberal visa regime comes with safeguards to ensure that US workers are protected. The bill would raise wages for all guest workers on an H-1B and require employers to advertise job openings to American workers. Companies that have a large proportion of guest workers will be subject to a higher fee and will eventually be ineligible to bring in more. Much of the operating costs of these IT firms comes from wages and any increase in salaries will affect their bottom line. The great Indian IT story appears headed for turbulence.
