Indian CEOs raise H-IB visa issue with Obama Administration

Washington, Mar 19 (PTI) India's corporate leadership raised the issue of H-1B visa restrictions during their first high level interaction with Obama Administration officials and was assured that there would not be a serious setback to the programme unless unemployment rate in US plummets drastically.

The issue was raised by the visiting CII's CEO Mission led by Bharati enterprise chairman Sunil Bharati Mittal, who among others met Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council, at the White House yesterday.

During the meeting, the delegation comprising of top Indian CEOs brought to the notice the concerns about the recent developments in the US with regard to H-1B work visa programme and certain provisions in the stimulus bill.

"I do not see that there would be serious setback to H-1B visa programme or export programme, unless the unemployment rate goes down further in a severe manner," Mittal, chairman and group CEO of Bharati Enterprise, told PTI in an interview after the meeting.

"They were positive," Bharati said referring to the response from the Obama Administration officials with regard to these issues raised by the CII delegation. "They believed that US will still remain open," he said.

During the meeting the officials shared the pressure the administration is facing from the US Congress on the issue of unemployment in the country. PTI

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I'm sick of our tax dollars going to bail out foreign firms as well. We need to feed, clothe, house, provide medical care and JOBS to Americans first.

with the name I'm not going to try and spell, we're going to be in for a hard 4 years on the economic front. Along with those dumbass conservadems who say no universal healthcare. Swift kick in the nuts 4 all.

I wish I could leave this planet.

I wrote to my rep yesterday about this. My employer is laying off most of its IT staff to make way for H1B workers.

I suggested idling the H1B program and only issue the visas if the employer can prove that not one of the 300 millions Americans can qualify for the job.

H1-B Visa holders. His only problem was not adding a zero behind it. They should scrap the shell game of pretending to look for U.S. talent and just charge $50,000/yr for every H1-B Visa holder (it can be paid by either the sponsoring company or the candidate themselves). This will ensure that really critical talent is retained while the companies look long and hard for U.S. replacements at $50,000/yr. If a U.S. worker can't compete under those terms, then we have lost it. In addition it will serve to bring some much needed dollars into the Treasury as well as finding other more critical jobs for those who currently "police" the H1-B Visa program.

they should forfeit their ability to hire any H-1B visa workers for a period of no less than two years.
A high fee should have been put in place since the programs inception.

sold as temporary stopgap in 1990 and has apparently morphed into an ever increasing ongoing appetite like an addiction to cheap foreign oil. Anyhow Geithner and Summers should be fired for multiple reasons, such as covering up for the couterparties of AIG. (Wonder if AIG H-1B's are getting bonuses?)

It worked on Impeachment.

:(