Soon after banning several Muslim nations in America, Donald Trump is likely to restrict H1-B visas policies. This step will be a set back for many Indian IT firms primarily- Infosys, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) and Wipro.
Donald Trumps spokesperson Sean Spicer told reporters on Monday that H-1Bs and other visas are “a part of larger immigration reform effort that Trump will continue to talk about through executive order and through working with Congress.”
“There is an overall need to look at all these programs and you will see that both through executive action and through comprehensive legislative measures a way to address immigration as a whole and the visa programmes,” he said.
Spicer said that these visas were part of the “larger immigration reform effort”.
The US issues 85,000 H1-B visas every year, of which 20,000 are for master’s degree holders from US universities. Because of the large number of applicants – 236,000 in 2016 – the H1-B visas were issued through a lottery system.
What are H1-B visas?
H1-B visas are issued to qualified professionals. A related visa is the L1, which is given to employees of a company who are transferred to the US. Both of them are used extensively by Indian companies.
India’s technology companies, led by Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro, have argued they are helping corporations become more competitive by handling their technology operations with specialised staff. They also contend the visa programmes allow them to keep jobs in the US and that if they have to pay more for staff, they will handle more of the work remotely from less expensive markets like India.
