H1-B visa reform bill, aiming to make hiring Indians costlier, tabled in US

In a move that may hit Indians hard, a H1-B visa reform bill, aiming to make hiring Indians costlier, tabled in US.

In a move that may hit Indians hard, a H1-B visa reform bill aiming to make hiring Indians costlier has been tabled in the US House of Representatives. The bill also includes certain provisions including doubling the minimum wage that would make it difficult for firms to replace American employees with foreign workers, including from India. The bill calls for doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders to $130,000.

According to the bill, the employers would now first offer a vacant position to an equally or better qualified American worker before seeking an H-1B or L1 visa holder.

The Indian IT industry, which sends over 60 percent of its total exports to the US, will be hit particularly hard if the bill is enacted into a law, as it heavily relies on H-1B visa workers for sustaining its American operations. Indians have also been awarded the highest number of H-1B visas among all nationalities in the US, all along since the program came into existence in 1990.