One more reason for BCIS to delay the 485 - 'misuse' of L-1 visa, Indians may be hit
U.S examines L-1 visa misuse
Indo-Asian News Service
Washington,
The United States is examining complaints that L-1 or temporary visas, the main beneficiaries of which are IT workers from India, are being misused.
The New York Times quoted officials at the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) as saying that it is conducting an assessment of the L-1 visa.
The bureau is a division of the Department of Homeland Security that oversees the granting of L-1 and other work visas.
In the nearly three years since the technology bubble burst, the use of L-1 visas to bring in workers - with a large percentage from India - has become a popular strategy among firms seeking to cut labour costs, said the daily.
The number of these temporary visas granted rose nearly 40 percent to 57,700 in 2002 from 41,739 in 1999.
The visas are intended to allow companies to transfer employees from a foreign branch or subsidiary to company offices in the US companies based in India and elsewhere now routinely use these to bring their workers into the US and then contract them out to American companies, the daily pointed out.
"If this is a company offering the services of their employee to go work for another company, it sounds dubious," the daily quoted BCIS spokesman Bill Strassberger as saying.
American technology workers say their jobs are being replaced not only by lower-cost foreign workers abroad, due to outsourcing, but also increasingly by foreign workers who enter the US on the L-1 visa.
In response to the controversy, which has caused considerable anguish among American workers, Rep. John L Mica, a Republican from Florida, introduced a bill this month to prevent companies from hiring foreigners with L-1 visas.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_267541,0005.htm
U.S examines L-1 visa misuse
Indo-Asian News Service
Washington,
The United States is examining complaints that L-1 or temporary visas, the main beneficiaries of which are IT workers from India, are being misused.
The New York Times quoted officials at the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) as saying that it is conducting an assessment of the L-1 visa.
The bureau is a division of the Department of Homeland Security that oversees the granting of L-1 and other work visas.
In the nearly three years since the technology bubble burst, the use of L-1 visas to bring in workers - with a large percentage from India - has become a popular strategy among firms seeking to cut labour costs, said the daily.
The number of these temporary visas granted rose nearly 40 percent to 57,700 in 2002 from 41,739 in 1999.
The visas are intended to allow companies to transfer employees from a foreign branch or subsidiary to company offices in the US companies based in India and elsewhere now routinely use these to bring their workers into the US and then contract them out to American companies, the daily pointed out.
"If this is a company offering the services of their employee to go work for another company, it sounds dubious," the daily quoted BCIS spokesman Bill Strassberger as saying.
American technology workers say their jobs are being replaced not only by lower-cost foreign workers abroad, due to outsourcing, but also increasingly by foreign workers who enter the US on the L-1 visa.
In response to the controversy, which has caused considerable anguish among American workers, Rep. John L Mica, a Republican from Florida, introduced a bill this month to prevent companies from hiring foreigners with L-1 visas.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_267541,0005.htm
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