The Hindu Business Line : US export council calls for relaxation of visa rules

THE US President's Export Council, which advises the President on trade-related issues, believes that the US must relax visa rules if it is to attract the best talent and stay competitive as a nation.

The council, a majority of whose members are from the American private sector representing diverse interests, has identified the US visa system as a major problem and an impediment to trade.

For instance, the American private sector would like students coming to the US for studies, especially engineers, to stay back and improve the talent pool in the country, while the visa system is such that the first question asked of a visa applicant is whether he or she intends to stay back after completing studies.

Making this point during an interaction here, Mr Prakash V. Puram, President and Chief Executive Officer, iXmatch Inc, and a recently-appointed member of the President's Export Council (PEC), said the council had sent a letter to the US President asking him to take a hard look at the visa policy "because this is at the core of America's long-term growth."

As a result of the council's efforts, Mr Puram felt that there will be an "overall expansion in visa capacity in the next few years."

Almost all the members of the council representing the US private sector were of the view that immigration was a major issue that the administration should look at.

Mr Puram, who was sworn in as a member of the PEC at its meeting on December 6, 2005, pointed out that despite the outsourcing boom over the last four-five years, unemployment in the US was just around 5 per cent. An alumnus of the Loyola College, Chennai, and XLRI, Jamshedpur, Mr Puram moved to the US 27 years ago.

The council includes 28 members from the private sector; secretaries to the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Labour, State, Treasury, Homeland Security; and five each from the Senate and the House of Representatives. The private sector members include Mr J.W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Marriott International Inc.; Mr Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs group; Mr Warren R. Staley, Chairman and CEO, Cargill, Inc.; and Mr Sidney Taurel, Chairman and CEO, Eli Lilly and Co.

During the December 2005 meeting of the council, it was felt that easy and reliable movement of goods and people, with due regard to national security, was essential to compete, grow and deliver gains for the economy. Different countries were vying to attract "human capital" due to which the US system must improve to attract talent from the "same finite talent pool," according to information available on the Internet. Mr Puram said that the council's mandate was to act as the President "eyes and ears" and bring to his attention issues that needed to be sorted and impediments that needed to be removed for the US trade to grow.

He said that India and China were "humongous" markets, which the US could not afford to ignore. On outsourcing to India, Mr Puram felt that Indian companies had to move in pace with American requirement. He felt that there was a sense of complacency developing among Indian companies, which had to move up the value chain. The pace at which change happened in the US was mind-boggling and it was up to Indian companies to capitalise on that growth and bridge the gap between their capabilities and the requirements of the US companies. A majority of the people in India were focussing on the business process outsourcing sector, while the Chinese mentality was that they would like to call the shots.

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