US Bill may cap Indians' share in IT firms to 50 per cent

HYDERABAD: If the Bill proposed by two Congressmen in the US becomes law, it would hurt not only Indians working in US companies but also Indian-run companies in the US.

The US bill proposes to limit the number of H-1B and L1 visas given to Indians. It says the number of jobs for Indians in IT firms including companies run by Indians would be limited to 50 per cent.

Telangana IT Association president M. Sundeep Kumar said Indian IT companies would be affected if it becomes law. “Indian firms can recruit 50 per cent of manpower from among Indians, and the remaining have to be from other nations including from the US. This may increase the cost on salaries,” he said.

He said that the proposed law had the potential to impact global IT growth. “The IT sector is interlinked and not limited to any country. But the Indian IT sector will face a bigger impact,” he said.

Mr K. Kaushik, a staff member from Oracle, said that H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2016 was proposed by Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell from New Jersey and Republican Dana Rohrabacher from Cali-fornia.

These two states have the most number of Indian immigrants. “Upcoming firms and big companies are establishing their units in the US and sending their Indian staff. Such companies will be affected badly.” he said.

Indian techies sent back from airport
The United States government has started sending back employees to India since last year, and are denying them visa to re-enter when employees seek renewal of their H-1B visas.

A software engineer from the city said that the US government  had rejected the renewal applications  of several H-1B visas. “Indians who came home on vacation or for renewing their visas faced a bitter experience at the hands of officials of the Customs and Border Protection when they landed back in the US. Many techies were given Form-275 and sent back from airport to India. Most were restricted from applying for a US visa for at least five years,” he said.