US accuses TCS, Infy of cornering H-1B visas unfairly

ON APRIL 18, TRUMP SIGNED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER DIRECTING FEDERAL AGENCIES TO REVIEW THE H1B VISA PROGRAMME

In the clearest signal yet on the target of the US crackdown on alleged abuse of the H-1B temporary visa programme for foreign workers, senior Trump administration officials named Indian tech firms during a briefing on the president’s executive order issued last week. “You may know their names well, but like the top recipients of the H-1B visa are companies like Tata, Infosys, Cognizant — they will apply for a very large number of visas, more than they get, by putting extra tickets in the lottery raffle, if you will, and then they’ll get the lion’s share of visas,” an official had said.

Asked why only three companies were named, the official had said, “These are the top three recipients of H-1B visas. And those three companies are companies that have an average wage for H-1B visas between $60,000 and $65,000. By contrast, the median Silicon Valley software engineer’s wage is probably around $150,000. So it just illustrates the point that I was walking you through about how H-1B visas are awarded.”

In reply to a question if he was criticising the companies, he said, “It’s a criticism of the way the H-1B visa program is run.”

On April 18, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to review the H-1B visa programme with the aim to end fraud and abuse and ensure only the “most-skilled and highestpaid applicants” were successfully processed.