Indo-Asian News Service, Washington, March 24: Declaring that “America is proudly open for business”, President Barack announced plans to reform the L-1B visa category to allow global corporations to temporarily move workers to the US in a faster, simpler way.
“And this could benefit hundreds of thousands of non-immigrant workers and their employers; that, in turn, will benefit our entire economy and spur additional investment,” he said addressing the second SelectUSA Investment Summit here.
“So the bottom line is this – America is proudly open for business, and we want to make it as simple and as attractive for you to set up shop here as is possible,” said Obama. “That is what this summit is all about.”
“The fact is there’s never been a more exciting time for us to do business together,” he said. “The companies that invest in America have access to the largest market in the world – and it’s a market that is strong and stable, and growing.”
More than 2,600 people, representing 1,300 companies from more than 70 countries, including India and over 500 US economic development officials from across the country are attending the summit launched in 2011.
According to the White House the Department of Homeland Security will clarify guidelines for global companies seeking to staff new and expanding US operations with specialised knowledge related to their company or industry without impacting job opportunities for the US workers.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the SelectUSA Monday released the second edition of ‘US Business and Investment Climate Report’ at the summit.
A media release said the report has been created “to serve as a ready reference guide to not just Indian companies but to all those looking to expand their business in the US or enter the US as an investment destination.”
Indians the worst sufferers
In spite of what President Obama is saying, a study released last week found that Indians faced the maximum rejections under this category.
“The denial rate for L-1B petitions to transfer employees of Indian origin is a remarkable 56 percent for 2012 through 2014, compared to an average denial rate of 13 percent to transfer employees from all other countries during the period,” says the study by a US think tank, National Foundation for American Society.
Indian nationals, the study says, had filed the most number of petitions under the L-1B regime – 25,296 petitions, followed by Canadians – 10,692 petitions. The denial rate was 16 percent for Britishers (2,577 petitions), and 22 percent for Chinese (1,570 petitions).