The government yesterday said it has conveyed its concern to the US over a bill being introduced in the Congress to change rules on H1B visas which is likely to impact the Indian information technology industry and Indian software professionals working in the US.
“India’s interests and concerns have been conveyed both to the US administration and the US Congress at senior levels,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017, introduced in the House of Representatives by California Congressman Zoe Lofgren, calls for doubling the minimum salary of H1B visa holders to $130,000 from the current minimum wage of $60,000 – a move that could impact Indian software professionals.
The bill, likely to be signed by President Donald Trump, would make it difficult for firms to use the programme to replace American employees with foreign workers, including from India, with lower wages.
As Trump prepares to issue executive orders on H1B, the draft of the order was leaked and published by some news websites on Monday.
As per the leaked draft order, Trump would reverse his predecessor Barack Obama’s extension of the duration of the optional practical training work visas, which allowed foreign students to stay in the US a bit longer after completion of their studies.
The bill would require that employers first offer a vacant position to an equally or better qualified American worker before seeking an H1B or L-1 visa holder.
It would also establish wage requirements for L-1 workers and improve H1B wage requirements to encourage companies to hire qualified American workers and prevent them from using foreign workers as a source of cheap labour.
Meanwhile, the industry’s representative body Nasscom said the bill is fraught with challenges.
“The Lofgren Bill contains provisions that may prove challenging for the Indian IT sector and leave loopholes that will nullify the objective of saving US jobs,” asserted Nasscom in a statement here.
“Though the bill has to go through a legislative process at the US Congress and the senate for becoming law, it does not treat all IT service firms with H1B visa holders equally and the provisions are biased against H1B dependant firms,” said Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar.
Assuring the industry of engaging with the US administration and its lawmakers through the Indian government, the former IT secretary said the apex body would highlight their value contribution as a ‘net creator’ of jobs in the US.
“The Indian IT sector has helped American businesses by providing high-skilled IT solutions in order to innovate, open new markets, expand their operations and creating thousands of new jobs for Americans,” claimed Chandrashekhar.
The bill does not address the acute shortage of STEM-skilled workers in the US, which led all companies to have a calibrated hiring of locals and bridging the skills gap with skilled workers on non-immigrant visas, including H1Bs.
The bill also does nothing to consider regional variations in salary structure, which could help some states and hurt others.
“The higher wage level will have ripple effects for other industries including nursing, engineering, life sciences, and others,” he pointed.
STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
If the rationale for the (Trump) administration and its legislative wing is to project jobs for Americans, the industry body said the US government should calibrate the conditions keeping in view the skill shortage in its country.
“Raising wage levels for dependent companies alone will defeat the basic objective as non-dependent firms can continue to bring in skilled workers at lower wage levels, thereby nullifying the objective of protecting jobs for American nationals,” added Chandrashekhar.