Trump Signs Order To Send More Indians Back, H1-B Visa Made Tougher  

Indian immigrants celebrating Independence Day in US last August (file photo)  - Sakshi Post

American President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order making H1-B visa rules tougher, meaning sending more Indians living in the US back to home.

With his 'Buy American, Hire American' agenda, Donald Trump has already set filters on visa issuance to foreigners a majority of whom comprise of Indian IT and non-IT professionals. The latest executive order seals the fate of thousands of Indian job seekers.

With the Trump government's anti-immigrant policies, the number of Indians in the US searching for jobs in India has gone up more than 10-fold between December and March, according to an analysis by consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Pvt Ltd, according to Mint.

There were approximately 600 US-based Indians seeking jobs in India in December 2016. By the end of March 2017, the number had gone up to approximately 7,000, Deloitte analysis said.

This data comes amid a crackdown by the Trump administration on job visas for skilled workers, including software engineers from India.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services said employers seeking H-1B work visas—a non-immigrant visa allowing American firms to employ foreign workers—for 2018 declined for the first time in five years.

Trump signed the executive order that called for a review of the H-1B visa program, saying they should never be used to replace American workers and be must given to the most skilled and highest paid applicants.

A Bloomberg report on Tuesday cited companies such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp and Mphasis Corp. as examples of outsourcing firms that would likely have fewer visas approved once the changes are adopted. The H-1B work visa programme channels thousands of foreign workers to the US technology industry.

"While US companies will find some tech talent in the US, the numbers might be less than what are required to meet their needs. Add to that, the wages they need to pay to US employees will be much higher than what they pay to H-1B visa holders," said CK Guruprasad, a consultant with executive search firm Spencer Stuart.

Added to this, Australia also abolished the 457 visa program used by over 95,000 temporary foreign workers, the majority of them Indians, to tackle unemployment.

Also read: Now It’s Australia To Shut Door On Indian Job Seekers

Experts see global in-house centers (GICs) as a viable option for companies to not only retain Indian talent but also address the anticipated shortage in the required volume of workers in the US.


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