One of the biggest recipients of H-1B visas in the past few years have been major outsourcing companies from India. Of the five biggest users of the program from 2007 to 2009, four are from India namely Infosys, Wipro, Mahindra Satyam, and Tata. Microsoft was the only US company in the top five. These data have been critical in American business owners in support of the H-1B visa, as hearings with the House Committee have recently indicated.
A lot of American companies are thus requesting an increase in the annual national limit of 65,000 H-1B visas issues per year, stating that this is too low and inflexible to meet their needs for scientists and engineers. The need is so imminent that business owners are even urging the availability of green cards (permanent residence) rather than simply H-1Bs. Bruce Morrison of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, testifying before the House Subcommittee for Immigration Policy and Enforcement, urged them to even consider green cards for foreign students with advanced degrees in science and mathematics from American universities. Many foreign students who get advanced degrees in the U.S. could not remain because work visas are not available.
Fraud has also declined with the H-1B program. Donald Neufeld, a CIS official, testified that auditors have found a decrease in H-1B fraud from 21% in 2008 to only 7% today. This counters the possible argument of those against the H-1B visa that most employers are simply using this to take advantage of foreign workers and displace US workers in their respective fields, resorting to fraud at times to hire foreign workers.
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