H1B visa for Indian IT professionals would not come down: Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday sought to calm frayed nerves on the contentious visa issue, saying the number of H1B visas for Indian IT professionals would not come down.

“No need to get panicky on the visa front. The lottery process is something I suppose the US wanted to do a correction on. The numbers are not something they are changing. The numbers will not come down,” Sitharaman told reporters.

Over the past few weeks, there is a growing sentiment of protectionism across various developed economies, including the US, 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.

A mere 17 percent of total US visas go to Indian companies and a number of American firms benefit from services provided by Indian firms, she noted.

India has time and again expressed hope that the review of H1B visa process will take into consideration the positive relationship between the two countries.

Any change in visa norms can affect the movement of labour as well as spike operational costs for IT players.

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 sixty percent of the India’s technology export revenues.

On changes in the selection process for H1B visa, the minister hoped that “where the high skill set is required, they would look for that, rather than for first time graduates”.

“No need of getting panicky because the number of H1B visas that we have got, we will continue to get that,” she promised.

US president Donald Trump in April had signed an executive order for tightening the H1B visa program to stop its “abuse” and ensure the visas are given to the “most-skilled or highest paid” petitioners, a decision that is seen to impact India’s $150 billion IT industry.

The Indian IT industry expressed serious concern over the issue as these visas were mainly used for short-term work in the US.

The H1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. Indian technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year for their US operations.

Reforming the H1B visa system was one of the major election promises from Trump. As per several US reports, a majority of the H1B visas every year are grabbed by Indian IT professionals.