US H-1B visa restrictions to hurt US workers

United States, 16th May: According to a latest study, if US immigration imposes restrictions on US H-1B visas for skilled IT foreign professionals, this would have a serious impact on US workers since US firms would have to outsource their IT jobs overseas.

The study cautions that such steps will automatically threaten jobs for US workers and bring a significant reduction in their salaries. 
H1-B visas are given to foreign IT professional immigrants who possess high educational qualifications as well as specialized skills which are not available in the local US workers.

The study was conducted by Management Insights using salary data of 50,000 IT professionals on US work visas.

The lead author of the study said that if US firms are not allowed to bring in qualified and trained IT professionals on US work visas from overseas for various IT jobs in the US, then the only option available for majority of US firms would be to go for outsourcing of IT work abroad.

The fact that many multinational companies in the US are being forced to hire foreign IT professionals working in nations outside the US is proved by the example of Microsoft which is hiring foreign IT pros living in Canada after the US immigration did not allow them to come and work in the US through US work visas.

The US immigration needs to take a cue from this recent happening since damage has already begun to happen.

The authors say that having a higher US immigration quotas for international IT professionals will be the best step for various US firms and will increase their long-term competitiveness and of the US economy as well.

Hence, the study concluded that US immigration needs to be more lenient regarding rules pertaining to US H-1B visas for skilled IT professionals from abroad. It maintains that having a universally and culturally diverse workforce, even if it means paying higher salaries for overseas skilled IT professionals, will prove beneficial for the US economy since it will improve global competitiveness of the economy. 

The findings of the study are published in the Management Science issue of the journal ‘INFORMS’ (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences).