United States Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernisation Bill, 2013 has not yet been enacted. The Bill seeks to deny access to visas or place additional visa related restrictions including higher fees on H-1B and L-1 visas either based on 50:50 model (those applicants who employ 50 and more people and 50% of whom are non-immigrants in the H-1B and L-1 visa categories), or any other tiered approach. These restrictions, including language which negatively impacts our companies on important issues such as non-displacement and wage level classification. This is not only discriminatory but also creates an unequal playing field for Indian IT Companies. Any legislation that seeks to selectively apply visa related restriction only against Indian IT business interest in the US would not be in accord with the spirit of deepening strategic partnership between the two countries and may impact on the common efforts to strengthen economic and trade cooperation that the governments of the two countries are actively pursuing.

The concerns of Indian IT companies over these new measures have been raised with the US side. India’s concerns have been conveyed to the U.S. side at Ministerial levels during the recent meetings of Homeland Security Dialogue in May 2013, Strategic Dialogue in June 2013, and at the CEOs Forum in July 2013 by Home Minister, Finance Minister, Commerce & Industry Minister and External Affairs Minister. Prime Minister also raised this issue with the US President in their meeting in Washington DC on 27 September 2013 and requested that the U.S. Administration should work with the U.S. Congress to address concerns of the Indian IT industry. This issue has also been raised with US Secretary of State during his recent visit to India in July 2014.

The information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Visa restrictions on specialty workers threaten differential access and higher fees, disadvantaging Indian IT firms' US operations. Proposed US immigration legislation would impose targeted visa restrictions and altered fee structures on foreign work-visa categories that materially affect Indian information technology service providers, including conditions related to employer composition, non-displacement, and wage-level classification, and these concerns have been raised by India through high-level diplomatic and ministerial channels requesting engagement with the US Administration.