ID :
46327
Thu, 02/19/2009 - 00:28
Auther :

H-1B visa ban for bailed out US firms is irrational: Montek



New Delhi, Feb 18 (PTI) India has termed as
"economically irrational" the provisions that debar US
companies from hiring people holding H-1B visas if they take
help under USD 787 billion economic bail out package, which
President Barack Obama has signed into law.

"I think it is an indication of protectionism and
interestingly it is an extremely bad decision," Planning
Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told
reporters last night even as several MPs demanded that the
government take up the matter with Washington.

"The decision says that if you have a company that
needs assistance it must not hire H-1B visa workers, which
really means if you have a company that is weak and you want
to assist it you are going to deny it the opportunity to hire
cheaper labour. To my mind it is economically irrational,"
Ahluwalia said.

"This is the beginning of what could be an irreversible
slide into protectionism which happened in 1930," he added.

Meanwhile, several parliamentarians led by MP and
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry
V. Hanumantha Rao wrote to External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee requesting that the government intervene to protect
the interest of Indian non-immigrant workers in the US who go
there on H-1B visas.

"We request you to kindly take up the matter with the US
government and protect the interests of H1-B workers," Rao
told Mukherjee in a letter which was also signed by several
other Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs.

The MPs have also said that if H-1B workers lose their
jobs they should at least be given at least 5-6 months to
leave the country instead of the 30 days deadline laid down in
the new Act so that they have sufficient time to sell their
homes and pack up.

The representation by the MPs follows a letter from B R
Prasad of Overseas Congress, New York, on behalf of H-1B
Indian immigrants to Lok Sabha MP and CWC member Aruna Kumar
Vundavalli requesting that India should seek relaxation in the
provisions of the Act and at least get the deadline increased.

Prasad's letter said that in the last 10 years, the
number of H1-B non-immigrant workers that came to the US is
close to one million. Of them 65 per cent are from India. In
addition close to 100,000 Indian students are coming to US
every year to pursue their education and career. They all
depend on the H1-B programme.

"On average it takes 5 to 10 years for these H-1B
workers to become permanent residents of US (Green Card
Holders). During this process, these individuals settle down,
buy homes and establish themselves in the US," Prasad's letter
said.

If these workers have to leave the country in 30 days
they would not get enough time to sell their houses at a
decent price, especially when there is already a downturn in
the market, it said.

They will then lose their equity and end up owing money
to the mortgage lenders and would on the whole suffer huge
losses. Hence, they should be given at least six months to
leave the country. PTI DDC
SAK




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