H1B policies: Uncertainty among small IT firms in US

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has elevated efforts to undermine H1B programme, creating “unexpected level of uncertainties” among small and medium size IT companies, a large number of which are owned by Indian Americans, an advocacy group for these firms have said.

The policies being implemented by the Trump administration have adversely affected IT businesses, said Gopi Kandukuri, president of the IT Serve Alliance, the largest association of smallmedium IT Services organisations in the US.

“It is impacting people who are in this country on H1B visas. The denial rate of H1B (currently) is 40 plus per cent. As a result, the entire talent is leaving the US. This is the biggest problem we (IT firms) are facing. There is a reverse brain drain going on right now,” Kandukuri said.

Founded in 2010, IT Serve Alliance has over 1,000 members, a majority are owned by Indian Americans, reflecting the dominance of the community in this sector.

“What we have seen since 2010, there’s a consistent and the continuous pattern to basically undermine H1B programme, especially the consulting companies where we process H1Bs and get the work done either at our locations or at the client locations. That has essentially got elevated adversely since last year when the current administration came to power,” IT Serve Alliance advisor Kishore Khandavalli said.

He alleged federal agencies especially US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) instead of implementing the rules and legislations are making up own rules and coming up with new ways of implementing the H1B programme.