Skip the navigation
News

Senate bill would bar H-1B hiring at firms receiving bailout money

Amendment is added to massive federal stimulus bill that gives U.S. workers job priority

By Patrick Thibodeau
February 5, 2009 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- Financial services firms that receive federal bailout money will be prohibited from hiring H-1B workers if legislation introduced last night in the U.S. Senate wins adoption.

The bill would bar any recipient of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), the program being used by the government to purchase some $700 billion of bad mortgage assets, from hiring anyone on an H-1B visa. U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced the proposal as an amendment to the massive, $800 billion-plus federal stimulus bill, which is separate from the previously approved bank rescue funds.

"I firmly believe that companies going through layoffs that employ H-1B visas (holding workers) have a moral obligation to protect American workers by putting them first during these difficult times," said Sanders, according to an unofficial transcript of his remarks on the Senate floor.

The argument that Sanders raised for including the restriction in the TARP funding is similar to one that Grassley made to Microsoft Corp. in his recent letter to CEO Steve Ballmer. After the company announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs, Grassley told Microsoft that it had a "moral obligation" to give job priority to U.S. workers over foreigners with H-1B visas.

It's unclear what impact this legislation will have if adopted. Financial services firms hire H-1B workers directly, but most of their use of visa-holding workers may be through outsourcing contracts with overseas vendors, an issue not addressed in this legislation.

The Associated Press released the results of an investigation this week that found that a dozen banks receiving bailout funds totaling $150 billion requested 21,800 H-1B visas over the last six years. Those H-1B visas were applied for by the banks, and not the visas used by the service providers.

Indian offshore outsourcing firms attribute as much as 40% of their revenues from the financial services sector. Offshore companies use workers on H-1B visas to deliver services in the U.S., which may also include transferring some of the work overseas.

Moreover, many financial services have built their own centers in India and elsewhere for IT work and business process services, such as call centers.

Read more about Outsourcing in Computerworld's Outsourcing Topic Center.



Additional Resources
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
WHITE PAPER
Solving application issues over the WAN requires careful consideration. Based on their independent research, Forrester Consulting offers recommendations on how to tackle application performance issues, insufficient bandwidth and the inability to quickly restore users in a disaster.

Read now.

Security KnowledgeVault
WHITE PAPER
Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Cut Communications Costs Once and for All
WHITE PAPER
New IP-based communications systems are being deployed by small and midsized businesses at a rapid rate. Learn how these organizations are enabling faster responsiveness, creating better customer experiences, speeding office or mobile interactions, and dramatically reducing existing communications costs.

Read now.

Outsourcing White Papers
Overcome Top 7 Admin Challenges of Active Directory
As Active Directory's role in the enterprise has drastically increased, so has the need to secure the data. Gain insight on creating repeatable,...
Insiders Can Ruin Your Company. Take Action.
Did you know that 80 percent of threats to an organization come from the inside? The threat from insiders is often overlooked in...
Top Solutions and Tools to Prevent Devastating Malware
Custom malware frequently goes undetected. According to Forrester Research, the best way to reduce risk of breach is to deploy file integrity monitoring...
Streamline Compliance and Increase ROI
Streamline, simplify, and automate compliance related activities; especially those that impact multiple business units. This white paper from NetIQ, outlines solutions that will...
X-Ray of the PCI Process-4 Proactive Steps
This white paper from Forrester Research Inc., helps break PCI into understandable components. Security and risk professionals will gain knowledge and insight into...
All Outsourcing White Papers
Outsourcing Webcasts
Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn...
Virtualize Business-Critical Applications with Confidence
Virtualizing business-critical applications has become a key focus for organizations as they move along their virtualization journey. With the launch of VMware vSphere®...
All Outsourcing Webcasts
Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest news test, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Choose a newsletter
  1. View all newsletters | Privacy Policy
IT Jobs