US Tells India It Is Planning To Restrict The Popular H-1B Visahttps://tnbclive.in
Three sources told Reuters, the United States has told India that it is considering caps on H-1B visas for nations that force foreign companies to store data locally. The statement broadens the row of the two countries over tariffs and trade.
The declaration comes days ahead of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to New Delhi. The H-1B visa program brings skilled foreign workers to the United States every year. India is the largest recipient of these temporary visas.
The warning is being considered as a result of tit-for-tat tariff actions between the United States and India in recent weeks. After Washington withdrew a major trade privilege for New Delhi, India as reply imposed higher tariffs on some US goods.
On Wednesday, two senior Indian government officials said that they were told last week about the US government plan to cap H-1B visas issued each year to Indians at between 10% and 15% of the annual quota.
A Washington-based industry source aware of India-US negotiations also said the United States was deliberating capping the number of H-1B visas in response to global data storage rules. “The proposal is that any country that does data localization, then it (H-1B visas) would be limited to about 15% of the quota. It’s being discussed internally in the U.S. government,” the person said.
The US Embassy in New Delhi did not respond to a request for a reply. The cap will affect the most Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Ltd, which leads $150 billion IT sector. Tata uses H-1B visas to send engineers and developers to service clients in the United States, their biggest market.
Last week, at a US-India Business Council, Mike Pompeo said the US administration would push for the free flow of data across borders to secure consumers’ privacy and help US companies.
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