Infotech Lead India: USIBC, top American business advocacy organization, says that the immigration reforms bill will have a negative impact on the global competitiveness of US companies and badly hit Indian IT companies.
These concerns arise mainly because the bill, which has been passed by the US Senate, retains several killer provisions, particularly those related to the H-1B visas, which allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.
“The Bill unfairly targets American companies trying to remain globally competitive by reducing their ability to contract with global IT service providers and restricting their access to the international expertise they need,” said USIBC president Ron Somers.
Such restrictions could stifle US innovation, slow local job creation and force companies to move jobs overseas.
Early this month, USIBC had announced the establishment of the Coalition for Jobs & Growth to help ensure that American businesses of all types have access to the international expertise they need to continue to drive forward economic growth and job creation.
It hired the services of law firm Patton Boggs for lobbying at the scale of the US-India civil nuclear advocacy effort, augmented by a public relations campaign spearheaded by APCO Worldwide, PTI reported.
The USIBC Coalition prefers HR 2131, the SKILLS Visa Act, that was passed out of committee in the House today, which does not follow the problematic approach of the Senate Bill, which will hamper American companies’ competitiveness.
Early this month, USIBC announced the establishment of the Coalition for Jobs & Growth to help ensure that American businesses of all types have access to the international expertise they need to continue to drive forward economic growth and job creation.
Meanwhile, CEOs representing top American IT companies including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Cisco have welcomed the passage of the new immigration reform bill.
These technology companies, which have major presence in India, say that the new bill would give a big boost to the economic growth and attract high skilled workers.
“In passing this legislation on a strong bipartisan basis, the Senate broke the logjam on immigration and high-skilled worker reforms,” said John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco and co-chair of TechNet, the coalition of CEOs of US tech companies.
picture source: www.thehindu.com
