Commerce and Industry ministry Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday sought to calm frayed nerves on the disputable visa issue, saying the number of H-1B visas for Indian IT professionals would not come down.
“She asked the industry no need to worry. No need to get panicky on the visa front. The lottery process is something I suppose they (the US) wanted to do a correction on. The numbers are not something they are changing, the numbers will not come down,” Sitharaman said.
Over the few years, there are countries worried of protectionism across various developed economies, including the US, looking safeguard aspects of jobs for locals and raise the bar for foreign workers.
“A mere 17% of total US visas go to Indian companies and a number of American firms benefit from services provided by Indian firms, she said. Once again India has time expressed hope that the review of H-1B visa process will take into consideration the positive relationship between the two countries. Any change in visa rules and regulations may affect the motion of labor as well as spike operational costs for IT employees.
In response to the proposed tightening of the visa regime, Indian IT firms have been ramping up hiring of locals in the US, a market that accounts for almost 60% of the India’s technology export revenues. As thinking about change in the selection process for H-1B visa, the minister hoped that “they would look for the high skill set of employee, rather than for the first time graduates”.
“No need to get panicky because the number of H-1B visas that we have got, we will continue to get that,” she promised.
According to report a majority of the H-1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT professionals. India accounts for the highest qualified IT professionals, whose services go a long way in making American companies more globally competitive. The US market accounts for about 60 % of the revenue of Indian IT.
The H-1B is a non immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields. Indian technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year for their US operations.
