An Indian-descent Democratic lawmaker, Raja Krishnamoorthi, has introduced legislation proposing to increase the annual intake of international workers on H-1B visas in order to attract a larger number of workers to the US.
The bill seeks to increase the annual H-1B visas from 65,000 to a total of 130,000, VisaGuide.World reports.
The US H1B visa, also known as the Person in Specialty Occupation Visa, is a temporary work visa that permits US employers to hire highly qualified workers engaged in specific fields such as IT specialists, architecture, and infrastructure, among others.
Krishnamoorthi said in a press announcement on Tuesday that the expansion of the H-1B visa program will help American companies get workers for direly needed positions. He is calling the legislation the HIRE Act, short for High-Skilled Immigration Reform for Employment.
In addition, he said that creating jobs and also building the economy of the future requires leading the way in technology by developing our domestic workforce while also drawing the best talent from worldwide countries.
“That is why I am proud to introduce the HIRE Act to increase investments in elementary and secondary school STEM education while doubling the number of available H-1B visas from 65,000 to 130,000. By investing in our homegrown talent while attracting the best minds from around the world, we can create better-paying jobs and harness the technology of tomorrow,” Krishnamoorthi noted.
The legislation also attempts to address the shortage of skilled workers at home in the United States by funding Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math (STEM) streams in schools.
President of an advocacy group for IT services companies, Vinay Mahajan, said that the US needs to maintain its leadership in technology and innovation.
Mahajan stressed that the startup ecosystem needs to be supercharged, emphasising that one critical component of both is high-skilled workers.
Previously, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that H-1B visa holders would be eligible to get detailed information through the new guidance that was introduced in order to help them.
However, recently the program was subject to several abuses, according to local media reports.
In order to help manage the situation, the US Department of Homeland Security announced the introduction of several measures that would be taken.
In June this year, the government of Canada announced the introduction of a new program to attract H-1B visa holders. The application process for this program opened on July 16, and until July 17, the cap of 10,000 applications was reached.