Immigration bill passed in US senate mixed bag for India

WASHINGTON: The US senate has passed an immigration reform bill that makes it costlier for Indian tech firms to use H-1B workers at their US operations. But it also seeks to fast-track permanent residency for foreign students.

WASHINGTON: The US senate on Thursday passed an immigration reform Bill that makes it harder and costlier for Indian tech firms to use foreign workers on H-1B visas, at their US operations.

But the Bill is not law yet, and it may never become one in its present form, because the House of Representatives, the other chamber of US congress, is considering its own set of bills.

And they don't tally with the senate version.

In its current shape, the bill is bad news for India. And not only because of its impact on firms such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS. But also because it may trigger brain drain from India.

The passage by the senate was a significant achievement: previous attempts to reform the immigration system, widely considered broken from a long time, have failed.

Vice-president Joe Biden, who is also the president of the senate, presided at the voting, signaling the Bill's importance to the Obama administration.

"Today, the senate did its job," said President Barack Obama, who is currently touring Africa, in a statement. "It's now up to the House to do the same."

The bill has three central themes: strengthening border security, citizenship for 11 million illegals, and legal immigration revamp.

The third part, which seeks to overhaul the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes for highly skilled foreign workers, hits Indian tech firms such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro directly.