Minister of External Affairs Vikas Swarup said that the government continues to engage members of Trump's administration to resolve the issue of H1-B visas.
Minister of External Affairs Vikas Swarup, on Thursday, assured the media that the government is in talks with the US government as Donald Trump's bill to change H1-B visas will harshly hit the Indian IT industry. Swarup said, "We continue to engage members of US administration and US Congress on our concerns. We are also engaging with internal stakeholders in India."
Newly elected US President Donald Trump's 'Buy American-hire American' cry has put the $150-billion IT industry on edge. H1-B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies, including those from India, depend on it for hiring tens of thousands of employees each year.
New bills have also been introduced in the US Senate seeking to more than double the minimum salary of H1B visa holders from $60,000 to $1,30,000—making it difficult for firms to use the programme to replace American employees with foreign workers, especially Indians who receive 60-70% of these visas.
On Monday, Union minister of state for commerce and industry, Nirmala Sitharaman asserted that the legislation introduced in the US House of Representatives will definitely have a financial implication, inclusive of the minimum wages for highly qualified workers.
"We will probably have to wait for a Congressional approval. So there are several things which are embedded in that discourse about HIB visa. Since it?s so layered, it is not right for me to react at one go about all this. We are closely monitoring the development closely with the MEA. We are constantly in touch with the US embassy," she said.
Admitting that there will be an impact on the Indian IT sector following the move by the Donald Trump administration, the Union Minister stated that as soon as the Parliament Session will be over this week, a meeting will be held with Indian mega trade association NASSCOM and with the industries which have significant presence in the US.
"We will talk to them about how they are working about in this environment and what are their strategies. I will also be talking with the External Affairs and understanding in how we can take a call on these issues," Sitharaman had said.
(With PTI inputs)
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