The Hindu Business Line : US Senate clears proposal to hike H-1B visa limit

"The US Senate approved a provision in the budget bill that aims to "recapture" employment-based immigrant visas that were legally available but unused in previous years, adding some 90,000 visas overall. "

New Delhi , Nov. 4

A PROPOSAL to increase the allotment of H-1B visas has crossed another hurdle, with the US Senate clearing a provision approved by Senate Judiciary Committee for hiking the visa limit by 30,000.

However, the US House of Representatives does not have a similar provision before it, and therefore the two sides will need to meet to arrive at a consensus.

The US Senate struck down an amendment proposed Senator Robert J. Byrd that would have removed a provision for increase in the allotment of employment-based visas from the Deficit Reduction Omnibus Bill Reconciliation Act of 2005, and would have levied a fee of $1,500 on employers who hire certain non-immigrants.

"In defeating the Byrd amendment, the Senate approved a provision in the budget bill - which had already cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee - that aims to "recapture" employment-based immigrant visas that were legally available but unused in previous years because of government processing backlogs, adding some 90,000 visas overall.

"However, only employment-based immigrants, and not their spouses and children, would be included in the employment-based visa category," according to Paparelli & Partners LLP, a law firm dedicated to the practice of all areas of US immigration law.

When contacted, the IT Association of America (ITAA) President, Mr Harris N. Miller, told Business Line from US that the Senate has supported Senate Judiciary Committee's views on recapturing up to 30,000 H-1B visa numbers that were authorised and made available by Congress but went unused in previous years, in exchange for employers paying a new $500 fee for these visas.

"The Byrd amendment attempted to take the provisions out of the Bill. However, while the Senate has endorsed the proposal to increase the allotment in H1B visas, the House has not done so. If the House passes a different provision then there will be conference between the Senate and the House to arrive at a solution," he added.

The annual cap on H-1B visas is 65,000 per year, which has been reached even before the start of the fiscal year, in the past few years.

Referring to the additional fee that was being proposed by Senator Byrd, Ms Poorvi Chothani of LawQuest, correspondent attorney to the immigration law firm of Cyrus D Mehta & Associates PLC New York said, "Any additional fee is going to be unwelcome in the face of the already increased fee that have been introduced since March 2005."

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