Guess Who's Getting the Most Work Visas

(page 2 of 2)

Browse Issues

Browse the BusinessWeek Archive

Related Items

• Table: The H-1B Roster

Some critics are pushing to tighten the criteria for these visas Andrew Popper

Story Tools

• post a comment
• e-mail this story
• print this story
• order a reprint
• suggest a story
• digg this
• save to del.icio.us

The Indian IT industry has helped improve the competitiveness of our customers in the U.S.," said Som Mittal, president of Nasscom, the trade group that represents the Indian companies. He added that Nasscom's members are "strong upholders" of regulations in client countries.

Infosys and Wipro declined to respond to criticisms they are misusing the program. In the past, they've said the jobs they fill in the U.S. are higher skilled than those in India, involving sales and custom software development. Infosys has about 9,000 workers in the U.S., including 7,500 on H-1B visas. (It has 88,000 workers worldwide.)

GROWING DIFFERENCES

Tech companies say more visas are necessary so the U.S. can attract top talent. Bill Gates is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill on Mar. 12 about how to keep the country competitive. He is expected to repeat the points he made a year ago in Congress, when he argued for more H-1Bs and green cards. "It makes no sense," he said, "to tell well-trained, highly skilled individuals—many of whom are educated at our top colleges and universities—that the U.S. does not welcome or value them."

Differences are growing between the U.S. tech companies and the outsourcing outfits. U.S. companies often try to keep visa workers in the country and help them become American citizens, while the outsourcers typically employ visa workers in the U.S. on a temporary basis. Some American tech companies say they may support reforms in the visa program to crack down on any abuse. "If Congress decides the visas are being used in ways that don't benefit the economy, there should be additional enforcement provisions or measures," said Jack Krumholtz, Microsoft's chief lobbyist.

Many U.S. workers oppose any expansion of the program. They say H-1Bs let companies hire cheap workers from abroad, rather than Americans. They say the timing for expansion couldn't be worse, with the economy faltering. "Foreign workers are coming into the U.S., even though Americans need jobs," says Kim Berry, president of the worker advocacy group Programmers Guild. "It turns the intent of the H-1B program upside down."

Business Exchange related topics:
Immigration
High Skill Work Visas
Global Outsourcing

Herbst is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in New York.