India to Challenge Reducing High Tech Visas to the USA and Says it Violates Trade Agreements
Immigration Activists and Concerned Citizens,
Bad international trade deals entered into by the USA are and have been hurting US workers. To show how absolutely bad our trade deals have been negotiated, one only has to read the article below.
We are allowing foreign countries to tell us how many of their workers they can immigrate to the USA and cost jobs to our citizens. This is another example of what Donald Trump has been saying in his campaign. The below article was provided by NumbersUSA.
India says it will contest a bill to reform the H-1B and L-1 visa programs, if passed, saying it would violate international trade agreements. Last week, Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) introduced the H-B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2016 that would prevent companies from misusing these visas to replace American workers.
The bill would prohibit companies, that employ more than 50 people, from hiring H-1B and L-1 foreign workers if 50% or more of that company’s workforce are already H-1B or L-1 visa holders. It would also require employers to make a good faith effort to give preference to American workers when filling open positions.
If this bill is passed in the Senate and signed into law, India claims it would severely hurt IT outsourcing companies, who are the main users of these visas, from sending more workers to the U.S. One top outsourcing company. Infosys, was fined $34 million in 2014 for circumventing current visa laws. The McClatchy Company used another company, Wipro, to replace 150 American workers with foreign H-1B and L-1 workers this year.
India says the bill disregards the General Agreement on Trade in Services and if passed they would seek to settle the dispute through the World Trade Organization (WTO) and over-turn the U.S. law.
The proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), along with other trade agreements, could cause similar actions by partnered countries should the U.S. attempt to make changes to existing immigration laws.
In an interview with Breitbart News, Rosemary Jenks, NumbersUSA’s Director of Government Relations, talked about the foreign tribunals in TPP saying, “I’m sure what will happen if this is agreed to, is that our immigration laws will be challenged…There’s no question that TPP sets up expectations that there will be virtually unfettered access to the United States to foreign labor and companies that provide services.”
Regards,
Ron Woodard
Director
NC LISTEN
(919) 460-8156