H-1B visa bill reintroduced in US with hike in salary threshold

The H-1B visa bill has been reintroduced in the United States Congress by two Republican lawmakers of California - Scott Peters and Darrell Issa.

With important changes being proposed to the eligibility requirements, the 'Protect and Grow American Jobs Act' was reintroduced on 4 January.

One of the important changes mooted was a hike in the minimum salary of visa holders of H-1B to $100,000 per year, an increase from the present $60,000 per year. Another proposal was the removal of the exemption of Master's Degree.

According to the lawmakers, the legislation would help in preventing its abuse and also ascertain that eligible for these jobs would be the crème-de-la-crème of talent from all over the world.

The bill tries to plug the alleged abuse of the H-1B visa programme which tried to replace workers from the US with workers from abroad by certain companies.

The Press Trust of India quotes Issa as saying that for America to be in lead again, they had to make sure that it could retain the brightest and best talent in the world. Simultaneously, they had to make sure that such visas are not subjected to abuse by companies by outsourcing and recruiting cheap labour from foreign countries to replace Native Americans, said Issa.

He asserted that the legislation they had introduced addresses both the issues. Issa was of the view that the bill would make sure that America’s cherished immigration positions would be used by businesses when the local workforce is not able to fill up certain positions.

A media release was quoted by the news agency as saying that with the hike of the salary to be on par with the average salary of the US for such positions, it would help in cutting down its abuse by getting rid of the profit incentive, and seeing to it that these positions would be available for businesses who really need them.

Peters said that by restricting the H-1B system’s abuse, it would protect the jobs of Americans and ascertain that visas are open for innovators to help them maintain competitive staff needed to run their businesses.

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