How the H-1B Visa Crackdown Will Affect India’s Software Talent

During his campaign, Donald Trump vowed that the country would follow two simple rules: “Buy American and hire American”.

A new bill lobbying for reforms in the H-1B visa programme was tabled in the US today, prompting reports that Trump is preparing to sign an executive order on the issue.

Here are a few key things you should know about the changes proposed to H-1B visas and how it can affect skilled workers from India looking to work in the US:

What are H-1B visas?

H1B visa is an employment-based, non-immigrant visa category for temporary workers. An employer must offer a job and apply for your H1B visa petition with the US Immigration Department.

H-1Bs are the most coveted work visas: In 2016, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that they received 2,36,000 H-1B petitions within five days of opening the process, more than thrice the number of mandated cap of 65,000 in the general category.

What are the proposed changes to H-1B visa norms?

Different bills proposed by senators have lobbied for reforms in the H-1B and L-1 visa norms. Some of the proposed changes are:

– Doubling minimum salaries of H-1B visa holders to $130,000
– Earmark 20% of H-1B visas for small and start-up employers
– Remove ‘per country’ cap for employment visas to ensure equal distribution
– Firms hiring H-1B visa holders need to make a “good faith” effort to recruit Americans first
– Give preference to students educated in the US for H-1B visas rather than computerized lottery system
– Crack down on outsourcing companies that import workers for temporary training and then send them back home to do the same job
– Prohibit spouses of H-1B visa holders from working in the US
– Prohibit companies with more than 50 employees, of which at least half are H-1B or L-1 holders, from hiring additional H-1B employees
– Strict audit and vetting by Department of Labor to clamp down on fraud or misuse

How does this affect India?

— $1 billion: Contribution of Indians with H-1B and L-1 visas to the US economy
— 4.1 lakh: Jobs the Indian IT industry contributes to the United States
— $22.5 billion: Contribution of Indian IT companies as taxes to US coffers between 2011-15
— $6.6 billion: Cumulative contribution to social security coffers between 2011-15
— 11 of the top 20 tech firms in India are headquartered in the US
— 1,20,000+: American lives touched through CSIR efforts of Indian tech firms
— 445,000: Shortage of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) manpower in US by 2022