The Senate Judiciary Committee on the fifth day of its deliberations that included 300 amendments to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill -- Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act -- passed it by 13-5 votes.
Called the US Citizenship Act of 2021, the legislation modernises the immigration system, and also proposes to eliminate the per country cap for employment-based green cards, a move that would benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals whose current wait period for legal permanent residency runs into several decades.
United States President Barack Obama, who pledged that enacting comprehensive immigration reform would be a priority in his second term, has rejected a Republican-sponsored immigration bill that would have created a new green card category for foreign students, reports Aziz Haniffa.
In addition to mounting its own effort and putting in all its resources to convince the US lawmakers that the killer provisions of the comprehensive immigration reform bill -- that has been introduced in the Senate by the bipartisan group of eight Senators called the Gang of Eight -- the top business group representing the interest of US companies doing business in India is in the final stages of hiring a top lobbying firm for the purpose.
The White House made its position clear on the contentious H-1B provisions of Senate version of the immigration bill in a fact sheet prepared for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community, which includes the influential Indian American community.
US President Barack Obama met a group of top business executives, including two Indian-Americans, to discuss the landmark comprehensive immigration reform bill that aims to provide citizenship to some 11 million illegal immigrants, including over 240,000 Indians.
Visa-related restrictions and costs to affect profitability of all major offshore-centric IT firms.
A South Asian rights group has expressed serious concerns over certain provisions of the comprehensive immigration reform bill that will pave a pathway to citizenship to some 11 million undocumented immigrants, including more than 260,000 Indians.
Indian IT industry had expressed concerns over the visa restrictions set out in the US Immigration Reform Bill that could hit their business hard.
Hires 2 former US ambassadors to India.
The first killer provision in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill is the ban on client site placement for H-1B workers.
India has no work visa similar to the H-1B, nor a reciprocal arrangement with the US. India does not provide employment authorisation to spouses of those who hold an Indian employment visa.
Unlike other communities, we do not demand to bring more people in the United States, but we demand fairness and justice for immigrants says Aman Kapoor
Soon after Washington's decision to nearly double visa application fees as a part of its border security law, a bigger storm in the form of the Comprehensive Immigration Reforms Bill is gaining momentum in the US.
The controversial Senate Immigration reform bill passed a major legislative test, but not the last by any means, when the democratic leadership managed to round up enough vote to invoke cloture on the Bill.
Frist hoped that the bill would clear the full Senate this week, or before Congress heads for a two-week Easter recess.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, if voted to power, will create an atmosphere of "mutual goodwill and trust" with the United States, party president Rajnath Singh said in Washington, DC, asking America to look at India as a long-term strategic partner and "not merely as a transactional" relationship.
The US Senate has approved a landmark immigration reform bill that would give citizenship to millions of illegal persons and double the number of H1-B visas from the present 65,000
Supporting India's concerns on the immigration reform bill, an eminent Indian-American has asked US lawmakers to make the necessary changes in the pending legislation, which if passed, among other things would badly hit the global competitiveness of American companies.
On June 23, in a huge blow to Indian IT professionals eyeing the US job market, the Trump administration suspended the H-1B visas along with other types of foreign work visas until the end of 2020 to protect American workers in a crucial election year.
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The immigration bill, from the US point of view, is going to bring in much more talent to the US, which is desirable aid, said economist Arvind Subramanian.
Indian Ambassador Nirupma Rao said the country will take care of the US concerns in a candid manner, open and transparent manner.
In his statement, Obama alleged that instead of advancing commonsense reform and working to fix the immigration system, House Republicans have voted in favor of extreme measures like a punitive amendment to strip protections from 'Dreamers'.
IT major TCS said 2014-15 will be better than the ongoing fiscal on account of uptick in client spending in the US and Europe and growth in demand for technologies like cloud, mobility and Big Data.
IT industry body Nasscom said it is quite hopeful the final contour of the bill would be much more balanced than it is at present.
Infosys on Friday said it is in discussion with clients for a contingency plan to ensure business continuity in the event of the US immigration reforms bill becoming a law.
Norman Matloff, professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis, believes that the US has enough highly skilled engineers and raising the cap on H-1B would hamper the wages of senior workers already in the industry.
A day after a poll drubbing, United States President Barack Obama struck a defiant tone saying he is ready to work with Republicans but could bypass Congress on issues like immigration reforms that would allow 11 million illegal immigrants, including 2.4 lakh Indians, to stay in the country.
It was expected to be a friendly Bill for the IT outsourcing industry
US presidential aspirants Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on Friday tried to woo minority Latino and African American voters as they sparred over issues like race and their records on immigration during a Democratic debate.
IT industry hiring big time, but quality concern persists.
A coalition of Asian-American groups led by activist Deepa Iyer recently met United States President Barack Obama to urge him to support family reunification in the new comprehensive immigration reform bill.
The United States Senate has passed the landmark comprehensive immigration reform bill that will provide a pathway to citizenship to some 11 million illegal immigrants, including over 240,000 Indians.
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