Seven months after dragging the US to dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for raising visa fees for temporary workers, India is yet to ask for the setting up of a dispute settlement panel.

One of the reasons for the delay is the problem being faced by Indian industry in accessing some of the data from the US government required for building a strong case.

“The Commerce Ministry, which is working on the case, had asked the Indian IT industry for a lot of data including what percentage of the total number of visas issued at premium fees by the US comprised of visas issued to employees working for Indian firms. Such information can come only from the US government which the industry is finding difficult to access. We are trying to work around the problem,” a government official told BusinessLine . It would be of no use to ask for a dispute settlement panel without building a strong case, the official added.

Last December, US President Barack Obama brought in a legislation introducing an additional fee of $4,000 and $4,500 for H-1B visas and L-1 visa issued by companies that employ more than 50 foreigners or which have more foreigners than locals working for them. While on paper the new legislation is applicable for all, in practice it is hurting mostly hurts Indian IT companies operating in the US because of the underlying conditions.

“Since the legislation is non-discriminatory on paper, we have to prove that there is discrimination taking place in its implementation. The Ministry and its team of lawyers is looking at possible violation on both de-facto and de jure basis, the official said. Officials say that getting US to part with the visa information would be difficult as the country knows very well that the matter would be used against them at the WTO. “Despite the fact that India needs information on visas issued by the US to build its case, for the sake of being transparent, the US is expected to supply the data,” the official said.

Discrimination can also be proved by comparing such as services, a Delhi-based trade expert pointed out. “What one has to look at is the extent to which the US visa requirement applies on Indian service providers and how it also applies on domestic providers of like services in the US. The effect that such regulations have on Indian service providers vis-à-vis a US company can be compared to show discrimination,” he said.

As per estimates made by IT body Nasscom, the increased visa fees would cause losses estimated at $400 million annually to Indian companies.

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