Economist Bhagwati against restrictions on H1B visa holders

Lalit K Jha

Washington, Feb 7 (PTI) Opposing restrictions on hiring
H1B visa holders, India-born international economist Jagdish
Bhagwati has argued that the provision will deprive the US of
the best global talent which comes in the form of highly
trained and talented people.

"The people whom you're hiring from India and from, you
know, China and from -- the top universities, they're the
smart lot, they're not really substitutes for guys who can't
get jobs," Bhagwati argued during at a conference organised by
the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

"In terms of broader considerations like the people who
are coming in on H1B visas -- they're frequently highly
trained and talented people and... a lot of our progress and
prosperity depend on having such people," Bhagwati, Professor
of Economics at the Columbia University said.

The US Senate has voted for an amendment that requires
that a company receiving Troubled Assets Relief Programme
(TARP) funds and applying for workers under the H-1B process
must operate as an "H-1B dependent company."

This means that the companies must comply with the H-1B
dependent employer rules which include attesting to actively
recruiting American workers; not displacing American workers
with H-1B visa holders; and not replacing laid off American
workers with foreign workers.

"As any professor knows... you have superb students and
you've got a whole tail of about 30 per cent students who are
just barely making it. So they get degrees, and are likely to
be the ones who are not getting jobs," he said.

Bhagwati said it is a fallacy to think that everybody is
homogeneous.

"I think it will be a sad day when we don't listen to
people like Bill Gates on importing more -- making it easier
for really talented people to come in on H-1Bs," he said.

He hoped the US will come back "to a more sane policy
after foregoing these advantages" for two to three years.