NASSCOM’s Mittal praises new U.S. immigration bill

NASSCOM looks forward to the ammendment of the Fairness of High-Skilled Immigration Act.

By Krithika B.K.

BANGALORE (Dec. 1)—National Association of Software and Services Companies President Som Mittal praised the new bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that speeds up the process of obtaining the green card.

The House passed a bill amending the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigration Act (H.R. 3012), on Thursday according to wire agency Indo-Asian News Service.

 “The United States has had this issue for a long time. It attracts the best and the brightest. The United States has always been a country where immigrants have added a lot,” Mittal said.

“In more recent years, because they had this quota system for the countries, if you did a computation today, it would take Indians 70 years, for someone who has studied there to get a green card. I think it is a very positive move,” he added.

Mittal emphasized the significance of the contribution made by educated people in a society.

“The point is that the impact is on the U.S. economy because we know that immigrants have caused so much innovation there; the startups come up from them. They require the well educated people to help their society,” Mittal said.

A visa ensures entry into the country, whereas a green card ensures permanent residence in the United States.

Previously, each country could only subscribe to 7 percent of the total green cards issued by the United States. For a country with a smaller population, it was easy to get green cards, whereas for a country like India, where large numbers of Indians immigrate for work and study, getting a green card could take years.

The wire agency reported that both the parties, the Republicans and the Democrats unanimously voted for the per country cap, in a move to save the economy by bringing in more entrepreneurs to the country.

The highlight of the summit was the introduction of a new award category for people with disability.

“We are glad that the Inclusion and Diversity Summit has moved from dealing with only gender related issues to issues in disability,” said Hema Ravichandar, strategic human resource advisor.

She also said that the debate was no longer about whether a workplace should include women or not but about how they can make conditions better.

The NASSCOM Corporate Awards for Diversity and Inclusion for The Best IT services and Products went to Wipro Technologies.

Almost 62 percent of the entries for the awards were first timers. 

The evaluation period went on for five months with visits to the offices to see how well the inclusiveness had been extended to diverse set of employees through policies and practices, according to Padmaja Alaganand, executive director of PricewaterhouseCoopers, who was a knowledge partner for the summit.

Genpact won the Best Business Process Outsourcing award. The Best Emerging Company, established less than five years ago went to Broadridge Solutions. SAP Labs, India, won the award for the most innovative program and Mphasis won the award for Effective Implementation of Practices for People with Disability.