US SENATE OKAYS IMMIGRATION BILL

• The United States Senate has passed a comprehensive immigration reform legislation that includes a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants and, worryingly for the Indian tech sector, places restrictions on companies that depend on skilled foreign workers.

IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION: WHAT IT MEANS

• The Senate legislation puts the undocumented immigrants on a 13-year path toward achieving permanent residency status or US citizenship
• However, it would require them to pay thousands of dollars in fines and back taxes.
• Raises the cap on the H-1B non-immigrant visa for high-skilled workers from 65,000 a year to 110,000 and eventually 180,000 a year, depending on demand. 
• It also places restrictions and onerous fees on firms that rely on foreign workers on H-1B and L1 non-immigrant visas by raising the cost of doing business.

 IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA:

•  It will deal a body blow to Indian IT services firms using the guest worker visa (H1B program) to win contracts in the US because it legislates higher fees and salaries, robbing Indian companies of their competitive low-cost edge. 
•  The bill will also pave way for fast-track permanent residency (Green Card) for foreign students who graduate in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) subjects, which may be good news for those seeking to buy their way into American residency through the education route, but will leach elite Indian talent.

The Senate bill has some distance to go before it becomes law. The US House of Representatives is considering its own set of immigration bills that are different from the Senate version, though there is little salve there either for Indian interests. But the two chambers have to reconcile their differences before the bill goes to the President for assent in order to become law.