Companies obtaining H-1B visas for highly skilled employees came under fire on Capitol Hill this week when two Congressmen and a group of labour protection specialists testified before Congress that the entire programme was “highly susceptible to fraud and abuse.”
“Over the years, the programme has become a government-assisted way for employers to bring in cheaper foreign labour, and now it appears these foreign workers take over — rather than complement — the U.S. workforce,” said Democratic Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, who is also Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
He was speaking at a hearing on “Immigration Reforms Needed to Protect Skilled American Workers.”
Pressing for urgent reform in immigration laws in favour of greater protections for American workers, the Senator said that though the annual H-1B cap was 65,000, the actual number of foreign workers coming in through the programme was many more because of numerous exemptions.
In fiscal year 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 315,857 petitions.
The Senators in attendance also heard from Jay Palmer, the whistleblower in the Infosys visa fraud case which resulted in the largest visa fraud settlement in U.S. history — $34 million.
“Companies such as Infosys continue to abuse the B1 and H-1B visa laws as well as the income tax and SEC guidelines…,” Mr. Palmer said.
