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Congress allows H-1B visa-holders to switch jobs

G Chandrasekhar in Washington

Indian computer professionals working in the United States will be allowed to switch jobs for higher wages during the tenure of their six-year work permit without any hassles.

According to a new bill adopted by Congress last week, IT personnel will be allowed to take up jobs offering a higher salary after informing the Immigration and Naturalisation Service.

Besides increasing the number of visas from 115,000 to 195,000, Congress has introduced a "portability provision" giving workers an easier way to change jobs in pursuit of higher wages.

Earlier, foreign-born workers were dissuaded from switching jobs by the problems in processing their visa papers. The visas need to be adjusted when they change their employers and any hitch could mean deportation to their native country. All these problems will now be a thing of the past.

The new legislation allows H-1B workers to join new jobs without having to wait for the INS to formally approve their applications.

In the past the INS could take weeks or even months to stamp the changes. The bill makes it easier for technological firms to lure top foreign employees away from their competitors.

Proponents of the provision in the legislation said the measure dampens criticism that the H-1B programme is a modern-day form of indentured labour wherein employees sometimes feel stuck performing dull jobs only to be sent back home after six years.

According to a recent report by the general accounting office published by The Washington Post, the average H-1B worker is an Indian male between the age of 25 and 29 who earns a salary of US$45,000 per annum.

The report said the programme is vulnerable to abuse since federal agencies have trouble ensuring that workers are treated properly and paid market rates.

The move has been vehemently resisted by some American-born computer programmers, who argue that it will provide employers with cheap foreign labour and cost them their jobs. Groups of technical workers such as the Programmers Guild and the American Engineering Association have joined together to oppose the bill.

UNI

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