Indians with H1B visas highly skilled, legal: Jaitley in US
FM says govt’s top priority is generating jobs for millions entering workforce every year
WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI: Indians coming to America on H-1B visa are not illegal economic immigrants but highly qualified professionals, finance minister Arun Jaitley told US officials.
Their position must be considered “appropriately” in future policy decisions, Jaitley said, reaffirming India’s concerns about the changes the Donald Trump is considering in non-immigrant visa regimes.
“Those coming from India on H-1B visas are high-value professionals, who contribute immensely to the US economy … They come here legally,” he told reporters in an interaction on Saturday, winding down his week-long US visit.
The minister also said his government’s top priority is to create jobs for the millions of young people entering the workforce every year.
Jaitley cited employment generation, slowdown in investments and the impact of the US Federal Reserve’s move to restore normal monetary conditions on emerging economies as the three policy challenges before his government.
Jaitley told US treasury and commerce secretaries Steven Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross about India’s concerns over possible changes in the American visa policy.
The non-immigrant and temporary H-1B work visa is the most sought after by Indian techies as it allows US companies to employ foreign workers. Indian technology companies depend on the H-1B visa too to hire thousands of employees each year for their US operations. President Donald Trump and key members of his administration, including attorney general Jeff Sessions, said the H-1B visa policy is behind Americans losing jobs to foreigners brought to the country on lowers wages and benefits.
Critics of the system have also alleged fraud.
Trump has ordered a review of the system, under his overarching vision of “Buy American, Hire American”, to eliminate abuse and fraud and to ensure jobs were not going to foreigners at the cost of Americans.
Jaitley was in Washington DC to attend a meeting of the International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMFC), the panel that advises the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to a finance ministry statement.
In October, the IMF cut its growth estimate for the Indian economy by 0.5 percentage point to 6.7% for 2017, blaming the aftershocks of last year’s demonetisation exercise and the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) this July. But IMF chief Christine Lagarde was optimistic about India’s medium-term prospects.