US Mulls H1-B Visa Suspension; Indian IT Industry In A Fix

According to reports, US government planning to temporarily suspend various guest worker visas, including H1-B visas, has caused uncertainty in the Indian IT sector — the highest beneficiary of these visas.

According to US official data about 2,75,000 H1-B visa applications were received for FY21 alone. However, due to stricter regimes and compliance costs, the rejection rate for these visas stood at 30 % in the first quarter of FY20. The rejection rate for Indian IT and consultancy firms is even higher than the US-headquartered firms.

Due to COVID-19, 20.5 million jobs have been lost in April alone, 4 US lawmakers have written to Trump seeking “suspension of guest worker visas for at least next year or until unemployment returned to normal levels.”

Professionals from the IT industry who were laid off have been asked to either leave the US or find a suitable job within the period.

“The industry needs to adopt a wait-and-watch policy to see if the Republicans also vote for the legislation that bans H1-B visas. If at all such a law is passed, it will trigger a new wave of recruitment by Indian IT firms within the US in the short term. For now, there is huge uncertainty,” said Shailesh Shah, CEO, Strta Consulting.