Nath expresses concern over H-1B bill in US Senate

India on Friday expressed concern over the introduction of a bill on H-1B visa programme in the US Senate saying the move is contrary to President Barack Obama's stand on protectionism at the London G-20 Summit.

India on Friday expressed concern over the introduction of a bill on H-1B visa programme in the US Senate saying the move is contrary to President Barack Obama's stand on protectionism at the London G-20 Summit.

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"This is certainly not in line with the US President's stand against protectionism at the recent London G-20 meeting and our desire to mainstream development in the Doha negotiations," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said in a statement today.

Reacting to the proposed legislation, Nath said he was concerned by the contents of the Bill introduced on Thursday.
He also expressed surprise at a report quoting him as saying that H-1B is an outsourcing visa.

"All of us are aware that the H-1B guest worker programme provides high skilled and specialised guest workers in the US market. Therefore, I am surprised at a report quoting me as having said H-1B is an outsourcing visa", he said.

The bill, introduced by Senators Dick Durbin and Chuk Grassley, requires all US companies who want to hire H-1B guest worker to first make a 'good faith' attempt to recruit a qualified American worker. Employers would be prohibited from using H-1B visa holders to displace qualified American workers.