H-1B visa, popular among Indians, should attract best talents, says US

“The number of H-1B visa petitions routinely exceeds the statutory cap, and among that pool of petitions, we should endeavour to select the very best for the privilege of coming to the United States for work,” said Kirstjen Nielsen, the Homeland Secretary of the US.

The US should select the “very best” among the applicants under the H-1B visas, the Trump administration told lawmakers Thursday, asserting that it was determined to ensure that the temporary work permits, most sought by Indian IT companies, do not harm domestic workers.

The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The said visa is popular among Indian IT companies and professionals.

Perhaps no other visa category has received as much attention in recent years as the H-1B, as reports of abuse of the program have caused outrage among the public, Nielsen told members of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee during a Congressional hearing.

“No qualified hardworking American should be forced to train their H-1B replacement, and then let go,” she said.

The Department of Homeland Security seeks to ensure that American workers are not pushed aside for the promise of cheaper, foreign labour, and the employers, recruiters or any of their agents do not exploit foreign workers, she said.

“While current law only requires it for certain employers, which are few in number and can easily meet the wage and degree exemption, all employers should be required to certify that they have made a good faith effort to recruit US workers before filing an H-1B petition, and have offered jobs to qualified and available American applicants,” Nielsen said.

Although current law prohibits some H-1B employers from displacing US workers, there are loopholes that must close, she told the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“We have to make sure the H-1B programme does not harm American workers who may be as qualified and willing to do jobs that foreign workers are imported to fill,” she said.

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