The United States appears determined to push through the immigration reform bill moved by its Congress’ so-called “Gang of Eight”. While its aim — to make US citizenship easier for thousands of illegal immigrants and also increasing the number of H-1B visas companies can get for their skilled workforce — may be laudable, the micro-reform in H-1B visa procedures may ultimately be detrimental even to US companies. The Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill with over 200 amendments but, significantly, the “killer clause” — banning client site placement of H-1B visa holders — was retained. India’s IT industry and even some US firms fear this provision will have a negative impact on their operational capabilities.
The turf war over outsourcing has been long and painful. US President Barack Obama’s sarcastic references to the “Bangalore backroom” has not exactly endeared him to many people in this country; but in all fairness to him it must be said it only reflected American concerns about outsourcing and the consequent loss of local jobs.
The free movement of technical professionals is vitally needed to run modern economies efficiently. Micro-management of narrow business issues by changing immigration rules really amounts to needless meddling by governments. Any curbs on the knowledge industry are bound to prove counterproductive; but India, which has a considerable stake in the IT sector, can only point out where Americans might be going wrong. It will really be up to US legislators to mend their ways in time.