The US President, Mr Barack Obama, is all set to sign into law a new Border Security Bill proposing a steep hike in H-1B and L-1 visa fees, a move that would affect Indian IT firms which may have to shell out an additional $250 million annually. Ignoring India's concern over some provisions in the Bill, the US Senate on Friday night passed the legislation which was approved by vote by the House of Representatives this week. Only two senators — Democrats Ben Cardin and Charles Schumer — attended the short session. Under Senate rules, only two members need to be present if the legislation is unanimously agreed to by all others. The bill passed by the Senate through a voice vote – approves
$600 million plan to tighten security along the US-Mexico border by adding another 1,500 agents, deploy more unmanned vehicles to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drug mafia. Mr Obama, in a statement, welcomed the passage of the bill, saying the resources made available through this legislation will build upon US' successful efforts to protect communities along the Southwest border and across the country. The President will sign the bill into law on Friday, the White House said in a statement. Mr Obama said the action by Congress answers his call to bolster the essential work of federal law enforcement officials and improve their ability to partner with state, local, and tribal law enforcement. The hike in the visa fees to fund new measures would result in Indian IT companies having to shell out up to $250 million annually on visa costs. The proposed increase in visa application fee by at least $2,000 for next five years would raise nearly $550 million out of $650 million that have been allocated for increasing the security of the US-Mexico border. These fee increases would apply only to companies with more than 50 employees and for whom the majority of their workforce is visa-holding foreign workers. A summary of a Senate version of the bill named Indian firms Wipro, Tata, Infosys and Satyam, which use hundreds of these visas for their employees coming to the United States to work at their clients' locations as technicians and engineers. This new law will also strengthen our partnership with Mexico in targeting the gangs and criminal organisations that operate on both sides of the shared border, Mr Obama said.
"So these steps will make an important difference as my administration continues to work with Congress toward bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform to secure our borders, and restore responsibility and accountability to our broken immigration system," he said in the statement.