In the past years, people have been travelling to the US in order to transfer skilled manpower from India to the US. H-1B and L-1 visas plays a vital role in the skilled manpower transfer that takes place often in the India’s information technology industries. The prices of the visa have been doubled where for L-1 visa it was priced at $2,250 which has now increased to $4,500, similarly, H-1B visa was earlier priced at $2000 which too have increased to $4,000. Nasscom being the apex body of software and services exporters, and trade lawyers for the consultation process have been under tough situations as the price have just doubled and is continuously affecting the revenue of the apex body. This step has been taken up by the US government in order to raise the money for better border controls.
India has around 200 IT companies in the domestic boundaries spread across 80 cities and not only is that India the world outsourcing hub as it occupies 56% of the space. This rise in the prices of the visa will directly affect the apex authority of IT industry making it quite an expensive affair to send Indian manpower to the US. Apart from this, 19 companies are banned to avail the H-1B visas. This was a serious matter as to regulate the same; it was already intimidated by the Indian authorities that if the prices do not decrease then a complaint shall be filed to the WTO to settle the matter.
The matter is yet to be settled as the US authorities are not ready to decrease or revive the prices of the visa. The hopes have raised the recent visit of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, which is the last visit to the US in his tenure. There are some assumptions the Nasscom is expecting for some good administrational benefits especially with respect to the visa fees.
Verdict: The raise in the visa prices has directly marked an impact on the Nasscom and shall continue until a settlement is found between both the nations. India being the world outsourcing hub and the US outsourcing most of it to India, develops interdependency on each other. Let’s hope after the last visit of Modi sir, some new positive surprises rise soon.
Author: Viveka Nagar