America pushes for cut in number of H1B visas; desi IT firms to feel the heat
The National Association of Software and Service Companies has not responded well to the proposed bill, saying that the move is detriment to our industries. The Association has also increased lobbying efforts in the US and released data highlighting Indian workforce's contribution to the US economy.
New York, December 10: With just 11 months remaining to the United States of America choosing its new president, US senators have proposed a bill which is likely to make the Indian Information Technology industry feel some severe heat. A bill proposed by senators Bell Nelson and Jeff Sessions, seeks to cut the number of H1B visas by a whopping 15,000, bringing it down from 85,000 to 70,000 per year. This is indeed bad news for the India's vibrant and ever growing IT industry which has witnesses a huge boom in the past few years.
Even as globalization propelled the growth of the Indian IT sector, making it an industry with net worth of $82 Billion, the US decided to practice a protectionist policy, which is likely to slow the growth down, at the least. The bill not only proposes a cut down on the number of visas that will be granted per year, but also underlines that higher wage earners be granted visas more prominently, thereby lowering the number of low wage earners to come to the US. Also Read: Republican presidential candidate favours increase in H1B visa
A statement on Nelson's website said that the proposed measure will help ensure that the H-1B visa programme will be used as it was originally intended: to attract foreign workers with highly specialised skills not found among the available US workforce. The National Association of Software and Service Companies has not responded well to the proposed bill, saying that the move is detriment to our industries. The Association has also increased lobbying efforts in the US and released data highlighting Indian workforce's contribution to the US economy. However, with both the Democratic and Republican parties supporting the legislation, the probability of the Bill getting passed is very high.
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