The H-1B US visa issue remains contentious for the IT industry in India. The stance towards Indian workers in the US remains unchanged, despite assurances from Donald Trump of a system overhaul.
In an email sent in early October, the Everest Group CEO, Peter Bendor-Samuel, said that Indian tech companies were not in the best position to lobby the government of the US and that they have in fact underinvested in such government relations for many years, particularly on having any influence on government policies. H1-B US visas have been under a cloud of controversy since President Donald Trump first mentioned changing the system as one of his priorities if elected to the White House.
The program has been of great benefit to the Indian IT outsourcing industry, which is worth more than $155 billion, becoming the best method by which Indian engineers can get to the US. But the industry has been accused of abusing the existing system to send more and more Indian immigrants, to the country, many of whom do not have the mandatory skills required by the US visa program.
Bendor-Samuel says the industry’s lack of influence in the US has only recently become a problem, as the agenda was driven by the high-tech industry in the US and its needs, aligned with that of the IT firms in India, and that this needs to change.