Indian Govt Starts H1B Negotiations With US Govt: Will Indian IT Employees Get More H1B Visas?

With Biden as the new President of the United States, the sentiments of Indian job seekers in the US markets have spiraled up, especially the H-1B visa holders.

Indian IT professionals and companies rely heavily on this visa status, the petitions of which were sharply declined under the Trump administration.

In the quarter ending September 2020, the H-1B denial rate fell to 1.5%, from 15% in the same quarter last year. The rejection rate for the preceding quarters of this year was as high as 58%.

In a hopeful news coming from the Ministry of External Affairs, the latter reported on Thursday that it is in discussion with Ministry of External Affairs on issues related to the H-1B work visa, which means the IT industry aspirants looking forward to working in the US, can expect some change in trends in the near future.

Let’s learn more on this.

MEA in Discussions with US Admin

Union Minister of State (MoS) in MEA, V Muraleedharan, while answering a question in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, informed that the government has closely been engaging with the US Administration and other relevant stakeholders, on issues related to the movement of Indian professionals.

He adds, “The discussion highlights the importance of people-to-people linkages and the contribution of Indian skilled professionals to the growth and development of the US economy, especially in the technology and innovation sector”.

Additionally, the Indian IT firms have seen an increase in the acceptance of H-1B petitions in the last quarter of FY20. 

The the fiscal year followed by United States Citizenship and Immigration and Services (USCIS) is from October to September.

In fact, Indian IT firms like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech recorded denial rates at 1%, while that for Tech Mahindra was at 0.4% during the quarter ending September 2020, according to a US immigration think tank NFAP.

Indian Nationals Receive About 70% US Work Visa

The MoS also informed that between fiscal year 2017 to 2019, Indian nationals have reportedly bagged between 69.9%-72.1% of the total H-1B visas.

“According to the US State Department, Indian nationals have received between 69.9 to 72.1% of the total H-1B visas issued by the US Government between the fiscal years 2017 to 2019.”

He added that the discussions between the two governments are not just established but have been continually raised up at different platforms too, like the India-US Foreign Office Consultations on July 7, 2020, and the 22 India-U.S. Ministerial Dialogue on October 27, 2020, held in Delhi.