Jaitley raises H1B visa issue with US commerce secy

Conveying India’s views directly to the Trump administration, finance minister Arun Jaitley told the US on Thursday it must consider the contribution of Indian professionals to its economy as it conducts a review of a temporary visa programme for high-skilled foreign workers.

Jaitley “raised” the issue at his meeting with commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and “outlined the significant contributions the skilled Indian professionals have made to the US economy,” the Indian embassy in DC said in a statement.

He “expressed the hope that the US administration will take this aspect into consideration while taking any decision”, the statement added.

India has been alarmed by President Donald Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” executive order issued earlier this week, directing federal agencies to review the H-1B temporary visa programme to end “fraud and abuse” and ensure only the “most-skilled or highest-paid” foreigners qualified, with the goal of protecting American jobs.

Indian IT firms, including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro, are among the heavy users of H-1Bs.

A large number of Indians also get hired by American companies, specially in the IT sector, such as Facebook, Microsoft and Google, and they are the highest recipients of H-1B as a group defined by country of origin — around 70% in 2015.