Senate bill on doubling H1B visas may have to wait

WASHINGTON: US Senate is likely to take up a bill on border fencing to prevent illegal migration but a comprehensive immigration reform legislation that envisages doubling of H1B visas, availed by Indian IT professionals, may have to wait, Senate majority leader Bill Frist said on Thursday.

"I'm going to do my best. As all of you know, the Senate has said we have to have a temporary worker programme and we have to have worksite enforcement and we have to have border security, and then the whole question of what to do with the 12 million people who are here illegally," he said.

"The House of Representatives stuck just with border security. So what I decided to do is take what we all agree with except maybe the Democrats but all agree with, and let's have strong border security legislation," Frist said of the Border Fence legislation, which aims to prevent illegal migration from Mexico.

The Majority Leader virtually acknowledged that the Senate is in no position to do anything about its version of a comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation, including raising the cap on H1B visas from existing 65,000 to 115,000 with built-in annual raises.

The Senate version of the bill also laid out a plan for easing the backlog on the permanent residency or "green card" applications.

What made the process very difficult was the fact that the House version of Immigration legislation passed late last year had nothing on H1B or permanent residency issues but was solely focussed on tightening security along the borders.

Analysts have pointed out that in an election year, neither Republicans nor Democrats wanted a "hot" issue like immigration dominating voters on November 7.

Whether or not the Senate is able to pass the Border Fence legislation prior to its adjournment on Friday or Saturday, the impression is that the larger issues of immigration will be revisited when Congress gets back on a Lame Duck session starting around the middle of November, during which the subject of H1B visas will figure.

Some analysts said that the atmosphere could be more political during the lame duck session if Democrats get control of the House of Representatives or the Senate or even improve their standing in the two chambers, as they are widely expected to, after the polls.

In that case, they said, Democrats will not be inclined to go along with existing pieces of legislation and would want to leave their own mark in the 110th Congress that will convene in the beginning of 2007.

High technology companies, who had lobbied Congress hard for an increase in H1B visas and generally made a case for skilled workers, are quite aware of the goings on in Washington DC in an election year.

"It is incredibly difficult to pass major legislative reforms in any areas, and they tried to bite off a lot. We've made a strong case, and we're hoping to take that to the finish line if there is any policymaking left to do after the election," Jenifer Verdery, policy director of Intel Corp told 'The Washington Post' daily.