Indians & the H-1B visa

Context: Immigration is one of the most polarising political issues in the US.
According to a YouGov poll from October. The H-1B visa program allows American
employers to hire immigrant workers in occupations that require a high level of
skill and at least a bachelor’s degree, according to the US Department of
Labour. An H-1B can be issued for a maximum of six years at a stretch, after
which the visa holder must either leave the US for a period of at least 12
months before returning or apply for and receive permanent residency (Green
Card). Currently, there is an annual limit of 65,000 new visas under this
program each fiscal year, an extra 20,000 visas will be available to those with
a master’s degree from a higher US university.

Key points

·       Overview: People born in
India are the largest beneficiaries of the H-1B program. Data from the US
government show that Indians account for more than 70% of all H-1B petitions
approved since 2015.

·       Recent
data: According to a data from Centre for Security & Emerging Technologies
(CSET) in 2020 India (2.55 million) and China (3.57 million) had the highest
number of STEM graduates in the world, significantly more than the US.

·       Implications
for India: The two major H-1B beneficiary groups are-

Ø  Indian employees
that work for the big IT majors in the US.

Ø  Indian students
who obtain a US Master’s/Ph.D. degree and then apply for H-1B visas at US-based
companies.

·       H1-B
visa programme Bill: The Bill encourages companies to recruit American
workers. It explicitly prohibits replacement of American workers by H1-B or L-1
visa holders. The Bill seeks to increase the minimum salary of H1-B visa
holders from $60,000 to $1,00,000 per annum. It also prohibits companies from
hiring H1-B employees if they employ more than 50 people and more than 50 per
cent of their employees are H1-B and L-1 visa holders.

·       Donald
Trump’s stand: Reshaping immigration is a central tenet of
President-elect Donald Trump’s push for companies to invest and hire more in
the U.S. He promised to end the misuse of visa programmes by companies to
undercut American workers, referring to an incident that involved Indian
companies and IT professionals on H1-B visas.

·       Effect
on Indian companies: If the reform goes through, the resultant increase
in employee wages will be a cost worry for the IT industry. Indian IT stocks
today fell by as much as 4 per cent after the re-introduction of the bill. The
top four companies — TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech — together lost over Rs
22,000 crore in market valuation.

·       Effect
on American Economy: Indians with H1B and L-1 visas contribute USD 1
billion annually to the US. A stricter immigration law towards H1B visas is
likely to hurt the American economy, as the people working with foreign IT
companies in the US holding H1B visas are adding value to American companies.