New Delhi, May 21: Allaying the apprehension on H-1B visa, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the number of H-1B visas for Indian IT professionals would not come down and IT industry should not get panicky.
“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,” Nirmala told reporters here.
On changes in the selection process for H-1B visa, the minister hoped that “where the high skill set is required, they (US) would look for that, rather than for first time graduates”. The selection for such visas is getting selective, but the numbers are not changing, she said.
“No need of getting panicky... because the number of H-1B visas that we have got, we will continue to get that,” she promised. Just 17% of total US visas go to Indian companies and a number of American firms benefit from services provided by Indian firms, she added.
Over the past few weeks, there is a growing sentiment of protectionism across various developed economies, including the US and Australia seeking to safeguard jobs for locals and raise the bar for foreign workers.
In the US, the Trump administration wants to replace the current lottery system with a more merit-based immigration policy. India has time and again expressed hope that the review of H-1B visa process will take into consideration the positive relationship between the two countries.
The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. Indian IT companies depend on it to hire employees each year for their US operations. India accounts for the highest pool of qualified IT professionals, whose services go a long way in making American companies globally competitive.
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 India’s technology export revenues.
Reforming the H-1B visa system was one of the major election promises from Trump. As per several US reports, a majority of the H-1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT professionals.