India Inc. gets White House meeting on H-1B visas

Head of business delegation from India said to describe session with Obama economic adviser Lawrence Summers as 'positive'

March 23, 2009 (Computerworld) A delegation from one of India's largest business groups visited Washington last week to make a case for the H-1B visa program, among other political topics. And it was a group with enough clout to meet with top White House officials.

The meeting likely would have gone unnoticed had it not been for reports in the Indian news media. Heading the delegation was Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and CEO of Bharti Enterprises Ltd., India's largest mobile phone operator. The U.S. officials at the meeting included Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council (NEC) and assistant to President Obama for economic policy.

In India, H-1B visas are seen as critical to that country's IT services industry. The four largest visa recipients during the federal government's 2008 fiscal year are all India-based services firms. After an earlier visit to the U.S., officials from India's top IT trade group, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), called the H-1B hiring restrictions set by Congress on financial services firms that receive federal bailout funds an issue of "extreme concern."

In last week's visit, Mittal was representing the Confederation of Indian Industry, whose affiliate members include Nasscom. According to the Indian press reports about the trip, Mittal characterized the delegation's meeting with Summers as "positive."

The Obama administration has yet to outline its plans for the H-1B program, but the White House has given some signals that it might support an increase in the annual visa cap — primarily via the appointment of officials who have advocated cap increases in the past, such as Janet Napolitano, the former governor of Arizona and now secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

And in meeting with Summers, the delegation from India found itself with the White House organization that may be most likely to support an H-1B increase. One of the NEC's deputy directors is Diana Farrell, an Obama appointee who has been a strong supporter of offshore outsourcing. Prior to taking her job at the NEC, Farrell was a director at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which has argued in reports — some authored by Farrell — that offshore outsourcing creates savings that are reinvested by companies.

When Obama was a U.S. senator, he supported a comprehensive immigration reform bill that was proposed in 2007 but never voted on after its sponsors failed to get enough support for a procedural motion to end debate. That bill would have raised the annual H-1B cap from 65,000 regular visas to as many as 180,000, while also authorizing additional visas for foreigners with advanced degrees from U.S. universities beyond the 20,000 that currently can be issued each year. Since 2007, Obama has continued to urge support for comprehensive immigration reform, but without being specific on the issue of raising the H-1B cap.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9130258&intsrc=hm_list

Might support an "increasse in the visa cap?" With unemployment this high? :wtf:

Whose side is this administration on? An increase, yet? :wtf: is right.

It seems no one gives a rat's ass.

Of course, we all thought at the time he would be sincere in changing things around.

It's be a crushing disappointment if that were an empty CYA remark on his part.

He's still done far more than * did regarding pro-labor laws, and a lot of genuinely good acts with foreign policy... but a lot of people are still concerned and terrified, and he's thinking of widening the wound that offshoring has put into our economy? Of course we're worried; especially when 'green jobs' have NOT materialized. All the news I've read, save for one article, show solar plants closing down because nobody's buying them (the economy).

Jobs are priority one.

And, yes, we are all scared.

That's insane.

:mad:

:sarcasm:

Once again, I sit here in disbelief...what the HELL are they thinking!?!?

If this administration votes to increase the cap by even by a single seat, they lost my vote! This also goes for any other elected officials in support of this sell-out of America.

People with nothing left to lose might lash out at members of the group who stole their jobs.

Our own country along with the help of big corporations are selling us out.

The people are not stealing jobs... so that anger would be misdirected. It's the politicians that sold-out and corporations that lobbied for the cheap labor as to where the anger should be directed.

But the guy who snaps and goes to work with a gun is not really in a frame of mind to constructively channel his anger.

:(

:(

Without unions and quality American labor, there'd be no America.

Buchanan is pretty much obvious; but Dobbs rarely said anything (that I recall) about specific nationalities/groups. He did refer to keeping illegal immigrants out (they can be from any country) and he supports homegrown labor. I honesty can't find any direct racism from that, though the rest of the media takes every opportunity to say "Mexico" as if no other country or nationality exists... Unless Dobbs said outright or somehow said something to genuinely prove something of being incontrovertible racism.

What upsets me is how the administration slid this under the radar.

:thumbsdown:

:)

One would think at this point I would no longer be surprised. When my oldest informed me of his plans to go to Georgia Tech (he graduated a couple of years ago) I tried to talk him out of it. I would (and have not) recommended a career in science or engineering to any of my children. Been in the biz for thirty some odd years, and I really wish I had chosen a different career path.


Trav

Which I hope means more than just brainless shit like "American Idol" or that billboard of two semi-naked people selling something completely unrelated to their body parts because people no longer know HOW to advertise... or even count to 2 unless there's a topless model standing in front of them...

Foreign interests come first because our government (both parties) are a bunch of cowards on economic issues.

to raise a cap would be VERY hurtful to the American worker. We have suffered a LOT -- either directly (job losses)... or indirectly (fear of losses, not seeing a future in many (if not any) fields, wage cuts).

Yet management has not.

We're ALL Americans, we are all in this together.

As is everyone in the world.

For the global economy to recover, the US economy needs to recover as well -- we are linked. And that means we need jobs, hope, and a future.

The President has admitted most of that on television already.

on April 1, 2009.

This shows that not many jobs are going to H1B workers or that they are not coming here.

Larger cap may not be required.