H-1B — back at 65,000

After months of contentious debate, the U.S. Congress quietly let the H-1B visa limit drop back to 65,000, a cap set in 1990.

Legislators let an elevated cap of 1,95,000 on H-1B foreign worker visas expire, bringing down the quota by more than half. The move came barely weeks after American President George Bush came out in support of ‘a strong H-1b program.’ For almost a year and a half, the H-1B Visa has been debated by American legislators and the labor unions who have been vociferously demanding a cut in the H-1B cap. 

Even bodies like the IEEE-USA lobbied for a slash in the quota claiming that continuing issuance of H-1B visas to foreign workers was detrimental for US workers as unemployment levels remain high for technology professionals. In fact, a recent report by Washington-based nonprofit group Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) pegged unemployment among IT professionals at 6% this year. Describing this as an “unprecedented” level, the report noted that the share of foreign-born persons in the IT workforce has doubled and use of L-1 visas for foreign employees of multinational businesses has tripled in the last decade. With such increased focus on the visa programs, legislation has not been far behind like Republican Congressman Thomas Tancredo’s Resolution 2688 seeking to terminate the H-1B program altogether. 

Back home, Nasscom is putting on a brave face. ‘‘Lowering the cap on the H1B visas has little immediate impact as the visas (already used) are valid for three years and are extendable by three more,” said Nasscom President Kiran
Karnik. 

For long, the H-1B has been a cornerstone of the Indian IT industry. In the early 90s, the H-1B visa program had a ceiling of 65,000 per year. With increased IT demand in the year 2000, this was increased to 1,15,000 and subsequently to 1,95,000 for a period of three years. 

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