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India is going to finally raise its concerns directly with the Trump administration over the proposed restrictions that the US is planning to impose on H1-B work visas, during the visit of Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar from February 28 to March 3.
Jaishankar had last been there in November 2016, weeks after Donald Trump was elected as US President.
Formal talks“This time the Foreign Secretary will be meeting some of the top officials in the new administration. The H1-B visa issue is at the top of his agenda,” a senior official told BusinessLine, requesting anonymity.
Although India had been conveying its concerns over the H1-B issue to the US administration as well as the US Congress ever since the matter got escalated, this will be the first formal discussion directly with senior officials in the Trump administration.
Concerns over H1-B visas reached a peak when a Bill — High Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 — was introduced in the US House of Representatives last month.
The Bill, introduced by California Congresswoman and Democrat Zoe Lofgren, suggests almost doubling the minimum wages for H1-B workers to $130,000, from the current $60,000.
Further restrictionsThe US is considering another Bill that seeks to impose restrictions on companies hiring H1-B or L1 visa holders if they already constitute more than 50 per cent of its employees.
This has made Indian IT giants, such as Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL among others, to review their operations in America.
Nasscom teamA high-powered delegation from Nasscom is in the US at present to lobby for Indian IT companies, making a case on the jobs that are being generated by them in the US.
India is the biggest beneficiary of H1-B visas, consuming 65,000 visas under the programme.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also raised the visa issue with a US Congressional delegation that was on a visit here last week.
According to sources, Jaishankar’s visit is expected to pave the way for Modi’s visit there in the coming months.
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