Two US senators seek visa ban for bailout firms

WASHINGTON: Two US senators on Thursday proposed to ban firms receiving government bailouts from hiring foreign workers under a special visa program for highly skilled employees.

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said in a statement he sponsored an amendment to the stimulus bill with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont that would prohibit businesses that have received taxpayer bailout funds from hiring H-1B visa holders.

Senators were preparing to vote on the massive stimulus plan worth 900 billion dollars aimed at easing the worst economic slump in decades.

The H-1B visa program, aimed at filling a need for skilled workers especially in the tech sector, allows companies to hire foreigners for specified periods.

At present, the US imposes a general quota of 65,000 H-1B visas annually, many of them issued to technology workers from India, China and the Philippines.

Grassley said the Troubled Asset Relief Program, aimed at rescuing the financial sector, should give priority to American workers.

"With the unemployment rate at 7.2 per cent, there is no need for companies to hire foreign workers through the H1-B program when there are plenty of qualified Americans looking for jobs," Grassley said.

"I support the H-1B program, but it should be used in the way it was intended -- as a temporary measure to supplement a company's need for hi-tech or specialized workers when none are available in the US."

Grassley said he made the proposal following reports that the banking industry had requested more than 21,000 visas for foreign guest workers over the last six years.

"If banks are going to be getting TARP money -- American taxpayer money -- then they should be hiring American workers," Grassley said

Last week, Grassley asked Microsoft to axe temporary foreign workers first under the US software giant's plan to slash up to 5,000 jobs.