Trump's H-1B Visa Ban Is Affecting India's Export of Skilled IT Workforce: Read How? 

A week after US President Donald Trump's temporary ban on visas hit the world, Indian and U.S. technology companies are urging the US government to reconsider the freezing access to many work visas. 

The companies have also warned that the move would undermine a business model used to supply high-skill talent to clients from Wall Street in New York to Silicon Valley in India. 

Last week, Trump’s order halted a wide range of visas till the end of this year, including those for intra-company transfers and study-abroad programs. This new order is aimed at giving Americans preference after record job losses from the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to Economic Times report, India’s technology trade group, Nasscom, termed Trump’s order as “misguided and harmful to the U.S. economy”. They also warned that it would worsen the country’s economic pain.

Nasscom further pointed out that, Indian companies provide technology staff and services to U.S. hospitals, drugmakers and biotechnology companies. So, the industry may send more workers to Canada or Mexico without access to the U.S. market.

“These are highly-skilled workers who are in great demand and they will be mobile no matter what,” said Shivendra Singh, president of global trade development at Nasscom.  

“Offshoring could increase because, for clients, the virus lockdowns have already driven home the merits of remote working,” added Singh. 

Even, Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai, Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith and Tesla Inc. founder Elon Musk criticized the order by US government. Pichai, who is a beneficiary of the H-1B visa system took to his social media handle and said: “Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today.”

However, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS), Infosys Ltd. and Wipro Ltd., are among the largest outsourcing companies in Asia, who declined to comment on the move.

This visa system has helped companies so that they could hire overseas workers to fill a shortage of high-skilled talent in technology services and product development. Till date, India accounts for about 70 percent of the 85,000 H-1B visas which were issued annually, according to immigration data. Out of the total, nearly 65,000 visas are issued to foreign talent with bachelor’s degrees, while the remaining 20,000 can be allotted to workers who have more advanced degrees, states ET. 

Currently, companies are beginning to question whether so much onsite travel is necessary, and some are ramping up local hiring or local subcontractors. 

“The temporary suspension of H-1B visa programme till December 2020 will hamper execution of pipeline and new projects coupled with margin impact resulting from higher onshore hiring,” credit rating company ICRA said in a note last week reports ET.