The H-1B visa adjustment could harm IT companies

BENGALURU: The Donald Trump administration has proposed to modify the H-1B registration process, which could lead to more licenses being granted to US master's degree holders, which would have an impact on IT companies Indian women who use the work visa to serve their clients.

The US General Services Administration indicated in a note that it was considering modifying the selection process in accordance with the US Government's policies of "buying and hiring Americans" under a rule that was first proposed in 2011 to improve the admission and selection process. H-1B petitions. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the agency responsible for issuing visas to immigrants.

"This regulation (…) would increase the likelihood that the total number of petitions selected under the H-1B bidding limit for applicants who hold a master's degree or a higher degree of American higher education institution every year be, "he said. The United States offers 65,000 standard H-1B visas for skilled workers and 20,000 additional visas for workers with a master's degree or above.

Typically, the agency processes the master's pool and then sends the petitions left to the general pool. "Under the proposed rule, the USCIS would initially place all claimants in the general pool of 65,000 visas. If this ceiling was reached, any US graduate would be redirected to the 20,000 visa pool, "reported the Politico American political information site, citing sources at the Department of Homeland Security. "The administration expects the change to result in a 15% increase in the number of H-1B visa holders with a higher US degree."

For Indian IT companies, which mainly employ bachelor's degree holders, the move could reduce the number of visas available to people without a higher degree. Some companies are already facing margin problems due to stricter visa rules that require them to hire US citizens and to outsource work when they can not hire fast enough.

"The increase in our outsourcing, on-site location and our investments has had an impact on margins of 50 basis points," analysts told the results of its second quarter. The company's margin was stable even though the rupee weakened considerably, which generally led to higher margins.

The company said it expects the costs of subcontractors to remain high, until it can manage projects with its own employees. Last year, Infosys had announced the hiring of 10,000 US workers by 2020.

Despite the issue of tightening visas, CIOs do not believe the Indian talent model will disappear soon. "The fact is that the demand for talent and the supply of talent will be met in countries like India, because the demand far exceeds the supply in these markets. But we must be aware of the policy on this, so we must have a broad base, "said TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan in an interview last week. "But I do not think the demand for Indian talent will soon be out of date."

The United States has issued more than 19.07 million of the 34.7 million H-1B visas issued in the 2017 decade to applicants with a post-graduation qualification, USCIS revealed on its website. However, it did not reveal whether the applicants had higher degrees from American universities.

During the same period, graduates earned 15.43 million work permits. The Trump administration also plans to end the end of this year at an Obama administration plan allowing wives of H – 1B visa holders to work in the United States. .

The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) said the Trump administration announced last year that it would begin making these changes to the program and that the industry lobby would not be able to make comments once a real change has been made. "We have always maintained that changing regulatory issues related to the employer-employee provision, or that wages would simply increase costs for US companies that use industry services to innovate and grow," he said. Nasscom Vice President Shivendra Singh.