For Indian engineers, H-1B visa is key to career growth The visa program, created in 1990 to allow highly trained professionals to work on specific projects in the United States, has become a contentious element of the comprehensive immigration reform bill the Senate is debating. The bipartisan legislation would increase the annual cap on the visas from 65,000 to 110,000, with the possibility of up to 180,000 per year, depending on demand and the U.S. unemployment level. The bill also seeks to place new restrictions on companies that make heavy use of H1-B visas. Critics of the program say the visas, which in India are used mainly by IT engineers, allow foreigners to take jobs from Americans. And while the documents are valid for just three years and can be extended to a maximum of six, many who get them find legal ways to stay longer in the United States. But tech companies and other H-1B advocates say that there are not enough engineers in the United States and that the foreign workers who use the visas are desperately needed to keep U.S. companies competitive. Kumar, who lives in the high-tech hub of Bangalore, in southern India, says he has the skill to test software not just for slot machines, but also for ATMs and ticket-vending machines. "Americans with college degrees do not want to do such work and consider it low-grade," Kumar said. Many of my classmates are already there on H-1B visas. I, too, want to go there, earn lots of dollars and return. In India, H-1B visas have become almost synonymous with the IT boom of the past two decades; for IT engineers here, they are seen as a key to career growth, social prestige and good salaries. "It fills the parents with pride to say my son or daughter is in the U.S. It enhances their social respectability," said Purnima Nagaraja, a psychiatrist practicing in Hyderabad in southern India. The dollar salary they earn is sent back to the families to buy farmland, new homes and pay off loans. Drawn to the American dream While many Indians working in the United States are sent by Indian tech companies, some also take Kumar's route to gain access to the U.S. job market - an American consulting firm helped place him with a U.S. company and applied for a visa on his behalf. The United States" Citizenship and Immigration Services received about 124,000 H-1B applications this year in just the first week after the process opened, and in April, Kumar was one of the 65,000 picked in a computerized lottery draw. The first year or so in the United States can be difficult, according to interviews with several engineers, IT managers and analysts, as new arrivals from India struggle to adjust to loneliness and American food and culture, including driving practices. Many also face grueling double shifts, working with American managers during the day and online with their Indian colleagues late into the night on aspects of the work that are done offshore in India.