Hello everybody! This is Cyrus Mehta. Welcome to this week's edition of Immigration Matters.
INS has recently issued a list of the top 100 companies that filed more than 60 H-1B petitions from October 1, 1999 to February 29, 2000.
A perusal through this list reflects that the H-1B program is used by well established U.S. corporations and universities. Contrary to allegations of misuse and fraud, the largest users of the H-1B program are not fly-by-night operations. Several Indian-based companies feature on the list. All of them are highly regarded companies in India, which provide sophisticated IT consulting services to Fortune 500 corporations in the U.S.
Motorola Inc. topped the list with 618 petitions, followed by Oracle Corp., Cisco, Mastech, Intel, Microsoft, Rapidigm, Syntel, Wipro and Tata Consulting Services.
These were the top 10 users of the H-1B program in fiscal year 2000. Several other Indian companies featured among the 100. Infosys Technologies Ltd. ranked 14th. Tata Infotech ranked 18th. Birlasoft ranked 33rd. Satyam Computer Serv ranked 40th and Larsen & Tourbo Technology Ltd. ranked 47th.
Not all the companies in the list belong to the IT sector. The list includes investment banks, several universities and insurance firms. The entire report may be found on our website at www.cyrusmehta.com.
While these companies gobble up H-1B visa numbers, let’s take a look at the legislation that would increase the H-1B cap, currently at 115,000, which was reached on March 10 earlier this year.
Even though public opinion is in favor of increasing H-1B visas, the proposed bills have been stalled due to partisan politics in light of the upcoming elections. Congress has only 45 days left to pass immigration legislation and other matters. Since the budget also needs to get passed, it is possible that Congress may remain in session until October 2000.
Although House Immigration Committee Chair Smith bulldozed his not too popular H-1B proposal through the judiciary committee, the Drier-Lofgren bill (H.R. 3983) is the better alternative. If H.R. 3983 is put before the House, it will pass by a majority of votes because it enjoys bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership is stalling this initiative because it wants to take credit for the H-1B cap increase before the elections.
In the meantime, the American Immigration Lawyers Association is actively advocating the advance of the registry date to 1986, introduction of NACARA parity legislation as well as restoration of § 245(i), along with the H-1B bill.
I hope you found this segment informative. If you have any questions, please contact the Law Offices of Cyrus Mehta at 212-686-1581. The number once again is 212-686-1581. You can also email us at cyrusmehta@aol.com or visit our web site at www.cyrusmehta.com.
This is Cyrus Mehta wishing you a wonderful weekend. See you again in 2 weeks.