Nasscom steps up US lobbying on visa issues, immigration
Facing rough weather amid large-scale layoffs and visa curbs in the US, the Indian information technology sectoral body, Nasscom, has stepped up lobbying with American lawmakers significantly, with about one-third increase in money spent on such activities.
According to the latest lobbying disclosure reports filed with the US Senate, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) paid a total amount of $1,50,000 (nearly ~1 crore) to its two registered lobbyists in the first quarter of 2017. This marks a significant rise from $1,10,000 paid to the two lobbyists in the previous quarter ended December 2016.
The amount was the same for each of the four quarters of 2016. Among the two lobbyists, The Lande Group was paid $50,000 in the January-March quarter of 2017 — the same as the money paid in each of the four quarters of 2016.
However, the other lobbyist, Wexler & Walker, a unit of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, LLC, was paid $100,000 in the first quarter of 2017, against $60,000 in the previous threemonth period and in many of the previous quarters.
According to the disclosure report, the ‘specific lobbying issues’ undertaken by this lobbyist included those related to immigration. The ‘general issues’ included tax and trade matters.
The houses of Congress and federal agencies with whom it lobbied on behalf of Nasscom, which itself acts as a lobby group for the $150 billion Indian IT industry, included the US Senate and the US House of Representatives.
Lande Group covered a larger number of ‘specific lobbying issues’, including with several federal agencies, according to its first-quarter disclosure report.
These included “high skill immigration, green cards, visa processing, US-India relations, US-India matters, tax reform, (and) border adjustment tax”.
In addition to the Senate and the House of Representatives, The Lande Group also did lobbying with the White House Office, the US Trade Representative, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the departments of state, commerce and homeland security. Nasscom took a delegation of Indian IT earlier this year to the US to engage with members of the Trump administration on issues like clampdown on work visas and flow of skilled manpower between the two nations.
During the visit, Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar had said the debate in the US over H1B visas had become a political and emotive issue, as there was a ‘yawning gap’ between the facts and perception and that Indian IT firms contribute immensely to the US economy and jobs creation.
He met influential American lawmakers, opinion builders, members of the think tank community and government officials to discuss H1B visa issues, among other matters.
The visit of the Nasscom delegation came in the wake of the ongoing debate in the US and moves to curtail the use of H1B visas, widely used by Indian IT majors. The US recently also accused top Indian IT firms Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys of ‘unfairly’ cornering the lion’s share of the H1B work visas, by putting extra tickets in the lottery system, a charge vehemently countered by Nasscom.
On the heels of this accusation, Infosys went on to announce plans to hire 10,000 Americans, though this move was described by some as an act to appease US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has tightened the rules of the H1B visa programme to stop its ‘abuse’.
An analysis of the lobbying disclosure reports filed for Nasscom shows the Indian software sectoral body paid $440,000 to the two registered lobbying firms in 2016.
The Lande Group has been lobbying on behalf of Nasscom since the third quarter of 2010, while Wexler & Walker registered itself as a lobbyist for the sectoral body in October 2015. Previously, Hill and Knowlton had registered itself as a lobbyist for Nasscom way back in February 2003 but that association got terminated in the first quarter of 2008.
Since the beginning, the lobbying issues for Nasscom have included ‘immigration and technology issues of interest to the Indian software industry’. The total lobbying expenses for Nasscom in the year 2015 was $270,000, while it was even lower at $140,000 in 2014 and $150,000 in 2013.
The amounts were $115,000 in 2012, $75,000 in 2011 and only $40,000 in 2010. The lobbying expenses for Nasscom stood at $60,000 in 2006, $100,000 in 2005, $180,000 in 2004 and at $200,000 in 2003.