USCIS has not made the transcript of the discussion on H-1B public, as is its policy.
Anger against the existing H-1B visa program was let loose by participants of a review meeting organized by USCIS to honor President Donald Trump’s executive order that ordered the federal agency to come up with ways to curb visa abuse.
According to a report by the Economic Times, the “national listing session” was organized by USCIS on July 26.
The session was attended by participants from a wide variety of background including unemployed people and employees who lost their job due to the misuse of H-1B visa by companies.
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The discussion session also saw the participation of advocacy groups and members of the technology firms.
According to the newspaper, the sentiments in a whole was negative to Indian outsourcing firms as many people complained they are hoarding jobs rendering the American workers jobless.
According to the report, some participants complained that there is a mismatch between the pay scale of H-1B visa holders and their exact take-home salary.
One of the participants, who is in charge of H-1B and L-1 interview of workers, said that some of them are not highly skilled as required. He requested the federal agency to enforce stricter policies.
Another US citizen said that the increase in the number of H-1B visa fraud happening in recent times suggests that USCIS should hike the fee to end the misuse.
The report suggests that there were about 750 people who joined the call out of which 30 people offered comments. The identities of callers have been kept anonymous by USCIS.
USCIS has not made the transcript of the discussion on H-1B public, as is its policy.
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R Carter Langston, a USCIS spokesperson told Economic Times that the transcripts of the discussion are not usually made public. He also added that the individuals who participated in the meeting included foreign nationals who may be in the US on various employment-based visa programs.
“I am not aware that specific companies or countries were mentioned during the call,” he said. The participants of the meeting also included Indian companies.
Poorvi Chothani, a US-licensed immigration attorney, who is aware of the points raised during the call, told the newspaper that “I am appalled at and saddened by the anti-Indian sentiments. Many of the negative comments were specifically directed at Indian companies and Indian H-1B workers.”
The outcome of the discussion is not yet known but the negative sentiments expressed by the members of the discussion group against the Indian outsourcing firm.