India continues to nurture plans of hauling the US to the World Trade Organisation for selectively increasing professional visa fees more than two years ago. The move affected top IT companies including Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and HCL.

The Commerce Department is working on an analytical report on how the rise in visa fees for companies employing more foreigners than local Americans has harmed individual Indian IT companies operating in the US, a Government Official said.

“If the report can conclusively prove discrimination against Indian companies, we will use it to file a case against the US at the WTO,” the official told Business Line .

However, the sensitivity of the data being sought by the Government which includes visa related information, has made several domestic IT companies shy away from sharing details. “This is a big problem for us, but we are trying to work around it,” the official said.

The Government is also looking at other sources, including the US Government data base, for information.

The US had brought about a two to four times increase in fees for both H1-B work permits and L-1 visas – commonly used by Indian IT companies to bring in skilled immigrants – for companies with more than 50 workers that hire more foreigners than US nationals. This was under a 2010 Bill introduced by Senator Charles E. Schumer to fund its border securitisation programme.

“On the face of it there is no discrimination happening against Indian companies as the US legislation applies on any company irrespective of nationality that hires more foreign workers than local US workers. But on the ground, it is only Indian IT companies that are getting affected as they employ a significant number of Indians,” a policy expert closely dealing with the case said.

As per the US’s obligations at the WTO, it is not supposed to put any obstacles on the movement of professionals at least in the IT sector. So, if Indian IT companies hiring more than half their employees from India are charged higher visa fees than US or European companies who hire a relatively lower number of foreigners, a case of discrimination can be established. However, it has to be proved that only Indian companies are getting affected and for that the Government requires data related to both work force and visa issuance.

“The onus of proof is on India and it can fight its case at the WTO only if it can conclusively prove that discrimination has taken place,” the source said.

Interestingly, while industry body Nasscom has publicly voiced its concerns about the visa legislation and called it discriminatory, individual IT companies have hesitated to do so.

“Indian IT companies, that regularly come up with statements about the hiring that they are doing in the US, do not want to be very forthcoming about the Indians that they hire. This is sensitive especially because of the economic downturn,” the source added.

>amiti.sen@thehindu.co.in

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