Visa cap would weaken US companies: Nasscom

Chennai: The United States’ plan to impose caps of H-1B visas will lead to further “crunch’ for talent among businesses operating in the US and will weaken them, says Nasscom.

“Indian nationals accounted for majority of all approved H-1Bs in FY 2017. This is a testimony to their skill-set. Only a small share of these Indian nationals is employed by Indian companies. The vast majority of them is sponsored by global and the US multinationals. If such a move were to be implemented, it will imply an even further crunch for businesses to access the skilled workers they need– this is true for all businesses operating in the US; including both Indian as well as American and global firms,” said the IT industry body.

The US has told India that it was considering caps on H-1B visas for nations that force foreign companies to store data locally, according to Reuters .

The warning comes at a time when trade tensions have intensified between the United States and India. The US had imposed tariffs on a few items and India retaliated with tariffs on a few other import items. The US and a few large payment processing companies also had expressed their disagreement with the data protection policy of India.

Currently, there is no country-specific limit on the 85,000 H-1B work visas granted each year. A large number of these visas are granted to Indians. As per reports, the US plans to put a 10 to 15 per cent cap on the total visas issued.

“However, there has been no official confirmation yet from the US government on the matter yet and we await clarity from official sources,” said Nasscom.

However, it said that any such step will only weaken the US companies.