The government has removed the 1% cap on the number of foreign nationals that a company can employ in its projects.
However, a new condition, which states that only foreign nationals with a minimum salary of $25,000 per annum can be employed in Indian projects, has been introduced in the employment visa policy.
The new clause may make it difficult for even skilled labourers from some countries to get employment visa in India.
“Foreign nationals being sponsored for an employment visa in any sector should draw a salary in excess of $25,000 per annum. However, this condition of annual floor limit on income will not apply to ethnic cooks, language teachers (other than English), staff working for the embassy/high commission concerned in India,” says a circular issued by the ministry of home affairs.
Last year there was a furore from the labour unions and political parties after it was found that thousands of unskilled labourers from China were working in India, especially in the power sector, flouting employment visa norms.
Taking note of the issue in December 2009, the ministry of labour and employment, under its grant of employment visas policy, had put a cap of 1% of the total workforce for the foreign nationals.
Under this, a company was allowed to hire a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 20 employees. For power projects, the higher limit was kept at 40 foreign nationals.
However the companies in the IT, steel and the power sector had registered their protest on the decision saying that it harmed their operations in the country in the absence of required talent in the country.
The new criteria, issued by ministry of home affairs, takes into account the minimum annual salary of the foreign national working in India.
Comments