Posted by: CHYAME KANCHA February 8, 2009
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Sunday 8th February, 2009
US
Senate seeks restrictions on hiring of H-1B visa holders
IANS Saturday 7th February, 2009
US
Senate seeks restrictions on hiring of H-1B visa holders
IANS Saturday 7th February, 2009
| The US Senate has accepted a modified amendment to the massive stimulus bill requiring companies accepting government bailout funds to hire H-1B visa holders under strict hiring standards so that qualified American workers are not replaced. The original amendment to the over $800 billion stimulus bill sought outright prohibition on businesses receiving government funds from hiring holders of H-1B visa, a bulk of which are cornered by Indians. According to Senator Chuck Grassley the modified amendment that he moved with Senator Bernie Sanders requires that a company receiving Troubled Assets Relief Programme funds and applying for workers under the H-1B process must operate as an 'H-1B dependent company'. This means they will still be able to hire H-1B visa holders, but must comply with the H-1B dependent employer rules which include attesting to actively recruiting American workers; not displacing American workers with H-1B visa holders; and not replacing laid off American workers with foreign workers. 'Hiring American workers for limited available jobs should be a top priority for businesses taking taxpayer money through the TARP bailout programme. With the unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, there is no need for companies to hire foreign guest workers through the H1-B programme when there are plenty of qualified Americans looking for jobs,' Grassley said. 'Our commonsense amendment simply ensures that recipients of American taxpayer money make American workers their first priority as they look to hire new employees.' Grassley supports the H1-B programme, but has said that reforms are urgently needed and the programme should be used in the way it was intended - as a temporary measure to supplement a company's need for hi-tech or specialised workers when none are available in the US. |