US Congressman comes out against visa fee hike bill

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Aug 11 (PTI) Leading US Congressman Jerry
Lewis has come out strongly against a key border security bill
that would steeply hike H-1B and L-1 visa fees to fund new
measures, a move resented by Indian IT companies which would
have to shell out upto USD 250 million annually on visa costs.
"It makes a mockery of our annual appropriations
process where these problems should be solved," said Lewis,
the Ranking Republican on the House Committee on
Appropriations.
"This bill is only on the floor today to allow the
Democrat majority to claim that they care about border
security. It won't go into effect soon, it won't solve our
border problems," he said.
The Emergency Border Security Supplemental
Appropriations Act was passed Tuesday by a voice vote in the
House of Representatives.
The proposed increase in visa application fee by at
least USD 2,000 for next five years would raise nearly USD 550
million out of USD 650 million that have been allocated for
increasing the security of the US-Mexico border.
These fee increases would apply only to companies with
more than 50 employees and for whom the majority of their
workforce is visa-holding foreign workers.
A summary of a Senate version of the bill named Indian
firms Wipro, Tata, Infosys and Satyam, which use hundreds of
these visas for their employees coming to the United States to
work at their clients' locations as technicians and engineers.
India's National Association of Software and Services
Companies (NASSCOM) has expressed concern over the bill,
warning it would steeply hike annual US visa costs for India's
outsourcing industry by USD 200-250 million.
Infosys Technologies CEO S Gopalakrishnan has
expressed concern over the House move, saying he was "saddened
and disheartened". India has at least 50 per cent of the
global outsourcing business.
Unveiled 90 days ahead of the key November mid-term
elections, it seeks to add another 1,500 agents and put in
place greater number of unmanned aerial vehicles that scan the
frontier for undocumented immigrants or illegal drug runners.
It also raises fees on L visas (given to multi-
national transferees) for foreign companies. Their fees will
raise from USD 320 to USD 2,570.
"Even the bill's USD 600 million worth of new spending
is paid for with questionable tactics. Avoiding cuts to
wasteful government spending, the Democrat majority is
penalising businesses with increased fees. How are de facto
taxes increases going to create jobs and help our economy?" he
asked." (MORE) PTI