Visa row: US officials start talks with various parties

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Aug 12 (PTI) Amid growing resentment among
Indian IT firms over US move to hike H-1B and L-1 visa fees,
the Obama Administration has initiated talks with leaders at
the Capitol Hill and business community on the issue.
With President Barack Obama set to visit India in
November, the US is keen that the issue does not impact on the
fast growing economic ties with India.
The hike in the visa fees to fund new measures would
result in Indian IT companies having to shell out up to USD
250 million annually on visa costs.
But there is no unanimity within the Administration
on the issue, officials privy to the discussion said.
"This is an issue that we have had conversations with
leaders on the Hill about. We have also had conversations
across the government and we are listening to the concerns
that business leaders have indicated and will be continuing
our dialogue on this issue," State Department spokesman P J
Crowley said.
Corporate America had warned that the passage of the
Border Security Bill, which seeks to fund enhanced security
measures along the US-Mexico border by raising fees for
certain category of visas, would undermine the growing
economic relationship between the two countries.
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.
A senior Obama Administration official noted that this is
"not a done deal yet" and the government is looking at it in
depth to resolve the issue by talking with the leaders of the
Congress, the business community and those within the
government.
"There may be varying views about this within the
government. We have to decide what our position is," the
official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Another official said several people in the Obama
Administration and the Congress are uncomfortable with the
funding measure of the Bill, which essentially attacks the
Indian companies.
But given the prevailing mood in the country on the eve
of the crucial mid-term election in November, they do not want
to be seen in anyway opposing a measure which is strengthening
border security, the official observed. PTI LKJ
MYR


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