IT Industry Slams Trump's New Order on H1-B Visa, Makes Big Statement: Read Details! 

Hours after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order preventing federal agencies from contracting or subcontracting foreign workers especially for those on H-1B visa from hiring, IT industry body Nasscom slammed the order and termed it to be based on misinformation and misperceptions.

As per an Economic Times report, the new executive order recommends a review of federal contracting practices and H-1B visa program in general rather than mandating an immediate change. 

Explaining about the order, it directs the heads of each federal department and agency to review the use of offshore services as well as temporary foreign labour (H-1Bs, L-1s) in the execution of contracts awarded in FY 2018 and 2019. They also demanded to issue a report within 120 days to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Based on the report, corrective actions may be taken. 

Meanwhile, in a statement Nasscom asked the Secretaries of Labor and Homeland Security to “take action within 45 days to protect United States workers from any adverse adverse effects on wages and working conditions caused by the employment of H-1B visa holders at job sites (including third-party job sites).” 

“This underscores and sets a timeline for the agencies to finalize and publish some of the regulatory measures that have been discussed by the Administration and mentioned again in the June Proclamation. These may include the changes to the definitions of specialty occupation, employer, and employer-employee relationship,” Nasscom added.

Further talking about the recovery phase of the U.S. economy, the statement later added that “as the world opens up post the COVID-19 induced lockdowns, it is important for the U.S. to be able to access talent critical to the recovery phase. Measures that restrict access to talent will slow-down the recovery phase of the U.S. economy, jobs, innovation and R&D."

This new order comes at a time when there is a huge shortage of STEM skills in the US by workers on non-immigrant visas like H-1B and L-1. 

Giving clarity over the unemployment rate in US, NASSCOM said "unemployment rate for computer occupations (those most common amongst H-1B visa holders) declined from 3 percent in Jan-2020 to 2.5 percent in May-2020, while unemployment rate for all other  occupations grew from 4.1 percent in Jan-2020 to 13.5 percent in May-2020."

Looking into the 30-day period which is ending on May 13, 2020, there were over 6,25,000 active job vacancy postings advertised online for jobs in common computer occupations, among those most common to H-1B visa holders, NASSCOM clarified.