Nasscom had recently taken a delegation to Washington DC.
The United States’ decision to temporarily suspend the premium H-1B visa processing is not a “significant impediment†for the IT Industry, the National Association of Software and Services Companies said in a news media statement. But, the trade association cautioned that it would lead to delays Indian IT firms.
“The current issue of the temporary suspension of premium H-1B processing will create some process delays for the companies- Indian and American- but is not a significant impediment,†the organization said in a statement.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Friday its decision to suspend premium H-1B processing from April 3, 2017. This came just days after New Delhi pressed for a fair and rational approach on the matter from a trade and business perspective.
The ‘premium processing’ allows companies to get decision on its H-1B petition in 15 days by paying $1,225 as an additional fee for processing their application. Otherwise, the normal time period may take a few months.
Nasscom said that it will work with the US embassy in India to ensure that movement of professionals is not hit by such process issues.
“This has happened in the past for a couple of months to clear the backlog and we will work with the US embassy in India to enable mobility of skilled talent is not impacted due to process issues,†Nasscom said.
Nasscom had recently taken a delegation to Washington DC in a bid to engage with the members of the new US administration. The agency also postponed its annual forecast till May for the first time as it anticipates an overhaul of the visa regime.
Led by TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL and others, the US market contributes about 60 percent of the export revenue for the Indian software sector.
Gartner Research Director DD Mishra informed that the move will have an immediate impact on the capability of Indian IT companies to respond to urgency, PTI reported.
“There are many projects which often require IT companies to address the requirement immediately and some of them are often planned or unplanned or due to a certain situation very specific to the account or project. Sometimes to address this requirement, Indian IT companies may have to hire expensive resources onsite or it can delay certain time sensitive initiatives driven by urgency†Mishra said.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, Cheif analyst and CEO of Greyhound Research told the news agency that the decision shouldn’t be viewed as a “conclusive outcomeâ€.
“While the loss of the back of this change will be felt maximum by US companies for skills in urgent projects, it will also rightfully be a step in stopping abuse of the H-1B visa program that is currently rampant,†he said.