US visa fee hike concerns India |
The recent Indo-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) and assurances given by the US government have not cut much ice between the country and the Indian IT industry. Wipro chairman Azim Premji met commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman over concerns related to visa fee hike. He, however, maintained that the decision was not targeted against Indian professionals.The US in December had hiked the fee for H1B and L1 visas -- the types used by overseas companies to employ people in the US -- to $4,000 and $4,500 respectively.US commerce secretary Penny Pritzker had last week said Indians were major “beneficiaries” when it came to visas as about 69% of H1B and 30% of L1 visas were issued to them last fiscal.This statement by US did not go well with the IT industry and they are concerned whether US will actually take the concerns forward or not .HCL chairman Shiv Nadar is also likely to touch upon same concerns in his upcoming meeting with the minister. According to India, the absence of a totalisation pact is imposing a burden on the Indian software sector as they have to pay over $1 billion per year to the US government towards social security, with no benefit or prospects of refund.Not just Sitharaman, even external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had raised this issue with US.
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