India ‘very strongly’ raises H-1B visa issue with US: Prabhu

Washington, October 28 : India has “very strongly” raised the issue of H-1B and L1 visas with the US, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Saturday, asserting that the American economy will find it difficult to cope with the reality as it has been immensely benefited by Indian IT professionals.
The US has tightened the norms for issuing the most sought-after H-1B and L1 visas in line with the Trump administration’s goal to protect American workers from discrimination and replacement by foreign labour.
In a new directive, the Trump administration this week made it more difficult for the renewal of H-1B and L1, popular among Indian IT professionals, saying that the burden of proof lies on the applicant even when an extension is sought.
Under the current US rules, Indian IT professionals working in the US on H-1B visas do not get back their hard- earned contribution to Social Security, which runs into at least more than US$ 1 billion per annum.
“We raised very strongly the issue of Indian professionals and H-1B and L1 visa issues,” Prabhu said after the first US-India bilateral Trade Policy Forum (TPF) under the Trump administration which was also attended by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
“We explained to them that we are not raising this issue because Indians will find it difficult to come, because US economy itself will find it difficult to cope with the reality because the US has immensely benefited by IT professionals penetrating into the market by offering services that has improved their productivity,” Prabhu said.