A recently organized review call by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) saw an outpouring of pent-up anger at Indian tech workers, the H-1B US visa program, and at outsourcing in general. On 26 July, the ‘national listening session’ call organized as part of the review of the US immigration policies, saw a wide array of individuals participating, including those from tech firms and advocacy groups, as well as unemployed American workers.
The sentiment during the call was predominantly negative. Many mentioned not only the dubious practices carried out by outsourcing firms in India but also alleged a major mismatch between the wages of US visa holders and of those who employ them.
US workers alleged that the majority of workers hired on H-1B and L-1 US visas were not highly skilled and that fraud has been taking place. They also recommended that USCIS be stricter and make the cost of such visas more expensive. Other callers included foreign nationals and those representing Americans who have lost their jobs to foreign replacements, according to a USCIS spokesman, R Carter Langston.
Langston says that several Indian firms were represented during the event, but some people tracking US policies on immigration were dismayed by the obvious negative and anti-Indian nature of the discussions and claimed that most of the negativity was specifically aimed at Indian H-1B US visa workers and firms.