H-1B visa crunch likely to affect USA’s tech dominion

NEW DELHI: According to immigration experts, there could be a sharp decrease in the number of H-1B petitions filed by Indian information technology companies this year. This comes after the tough environment created by the US administration under the rule of President, Donald Trump.

Amazon (2,515), Microsoft (1,479), Intel (1,230), and Google (1,213) were four of the six major US companies amongst the top 10 employers for approved H-1B petitions in the FY 2017.

The demand is a reflection of the strong demand for high-skilled talent in the economy of The United States.
A country’s economic growth is directly dependent on research and development. A report by the National Foundation for American Policy said that it is possible some of the larger companies had more approvals with fewer total applications submitted in the fiscal 2018 H-1B cap.

Micrsoft CEO, Satya Nadella also commented on the changes in USA’s immigration policy saying that US stands for inclusion and diversity.

India has one-fourth of the approximate 7.5 million bachelors in science and engineering degrees. However, US tops the charts when it comes to spending funds on research and development, according to the annual Science and Engineering Indicators 2018 report of the National Science Foundation.

Recently, Scott FitzGerald, partner in US immigration firm Fragomen Worldwide, mentioned that the general consensus of H-1B filings will possibly be down by 50 per cent compared to the recent years.