IT firms to scramble for H1-B visas this year too

Despite most Indian IT companies opening delivery centres and stepping up hirings in onshore sites, their demand for H-1B visas doesn't seem to wane.

The applications for non-immigrant visas that IT companies use to send Indian workers abroad is set escalate this year as well on account of revival of the US business, the mainstay for Indian IT companies.

Ganesh Natarajan, CEO of Zensar Technologies and chairman of IT industry body Nasscom, said, "We will be applying for at least 30% more H-1B visas this year (500-600 more visas), as compared with last year. I expect the Indian IT industry as a whole may also apply for 20-25,000 more H-1B visas this year, considering the likely shortage of visas."

Indian firms generally get 65,000 visas every year, about half the number of visas made available by the US.

Last year applications for about 124,000 visas were received by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

TCS, India's top software services firm, which had applied for 5,900 H-1B visas in 2012-13, too will apply in the earnest. Ajoy Mukherjee, global HR head, TCS said "Our number of H-1B applications this year will be similar to last year's number, which was also quite high."

Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies declined to comment, but analysts said they will also be significantly increase their H-1B applications.

Arvind Thakur, CEO of NIIT Technologies, said, "Given our sharper focus on the US this year and increased revenues from that market, we will be aggressively applying for H-1B visas."

Mid-tier IT player Mindtree will apply for 10-15% more H-1B visas this year as compared with last year, despite the fact that only 13-14% of the workforce it employs is onsite and the rest offshore.

However, some feel hype is being created to make IT firms rush for applications and spend more.

Tech Mahindra will thus apply cautiously – only as per business requirement.

"Given our near-shore strategy and higher investment towards local infrastructure, we will be applying for H-1B visas strictly as per our business requirement – which should be similar to last year's application number," its spokesperson said.

While the grant of H-1B visas to Indian IT firms has been constant at 65,000, the demand has been consistently double that number.

IT companies also apply for L1 work visas, but these have a higher rejection rate, resulting in them vying for H-1B visas.

Shashi Bhushan, IT analyst with brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher, said, "Increased economic activity in the US is leading all Indian IT firms applying for more visas this year. However, offshore delivery centres and more local hiring may help to alleviate some of the pain of visa rejection."

The much-debated US Immigration Bill likely to be passed later this year has proposed raising the H-1B cap from 65,000 to 115,000. However, till the Bill is passed, lobbying for the prized visas will be intense.