Trump’s New Executive Order for H1B Visa – What it Means for India

  Amid all sort of controversies over the travel ban imposed by Trump, news of change in the American immigration rules have set panic attack among India’s tech industry. This is visible through the shares which have plunged on news that Trump is drafting a order to make changes in H-1B visa program. Shares of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), plunged 5%, Infosys (INFY) and Wipro fell by 4%. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp., a New Jersey-based company is the heaviest user of H1B program and its shares fell by 4.4%. Indian worker have been under huge demand under H-1B visas and the top recipient of the H1B visas are outsources, primarily from India. Last year about 85,000 visas were issued to India. The said draft about change in American immigration rules include H-1B, L-1, E-2 and B1 visas. The new Bill proposes increasing the minimum salary for visa holders to $130,000 which is double than the current which is $60,000. This means that company have to choose American citizens first and have to pay high if choosing foreign employees. So companies will be forced to hire only strong candidate from abroad. Spouse of H-1B visas would not have the right to work in the US. The H-1B visa bill removes the ‘per country’ cap, so the employee hire the most skilled workers without regard to nation origin. Not only Indian companies but big names like IBM, Accenture, Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. will also be impacted by overhauling of the work-visa programs. The foreign work visas were originally established to help U.S. companies recruit from abroad when they couldn’t find qualified local workers. “Our country’s immigration policies should be designed and implemented to serve, first and foremost, the U.S. national interest,” draft proposal reads according to a copy reviewed by Bloomberg. “Visa programs for foreign workers … should be administered in a manner that protects the civil rights of American workers and current lawful residents, and that prioritizes the protection of American workers — our forgotten working people — and the jobs they hold.”