Theme :-
- US government under Donald Trump’s rule proposed multiple bills to tighten H-1B visa rules. One of them aimed at rising the minimum wage requirement to $130000 from $60000.
In Favor :-
- IT companies in USA, especially Indian based IT industries are hiring graduates of developing countries, because they work for lower wages compared to American counterparts. This is resulting in discrimination against Americans. Thereby many talented youth of America are left jobless.
- H-1B visa holders will more likely return their home countries after a few years and do not contribute anything to US economy.
- H-1B workers are underpaid and in some instances abused by their employers, because they are sponsored by their companies and are treated as cheap labour.
- At present, small companies and startups have almost no chance to sponsor visas, With the proposed bill, 20% of the annual allocation of H1B visas will be reserved for them.
- Indian students in USA are also discriminated by IT companies, because they do not work for low wages. The recent bill aims to give preference to foreign students in USA over foreigners in jobs.
Against :-
- US economy is greatly benefited by skilled immigrants. Closing doors to foreigners now is not fair.
- Expenses for IT companies will go up, because of minimum wage requirement rule.
- IT industries of USA will face shortage of skilled workers.
- This move will hurt bilateral relations of USA with many developing countries like India.
- In this Globalization era, merit should be given preference over nationalism.
- America is the land of immigrants. Opposition by settled immigrants to the new immigrants is not fair.
Conclusion :-
Though Donald Trump’s xenophobic tendencies are a matter of concern, Every nation has right to protect it’s domestic interests. Just like we are protesting against Chinese products, USA citizens are protesting against immigrants who are taking their jobs away.
Strengthening H-1B visa regime is understandable. But in the long run, this move will hurt US economy more than it hurts Indian economy, because many IT industries in USA may shift their operations to other countries to cut their expenses. This will in turn leads to losses of jobs for USA citizens.
Afterwords :- What is your opinion on this topic? Express your thoughts in the comment section below.
Photo Credits : Baigal Byamba
Copyright @ Group Discussion Ideas. First published on 10th February 2017.
