Sitharaman to meet industry on impact of US visa regime change

Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi, Feb 6 –The Indian Commerce Ministry will soon hold a meeting with industry on dealing with the possible fallout of the changes in American H-1B visas regime for skilled workers, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday.

“There will be an impact on the Indian industry. As soon as Parliament session is over on February 9, I will hold a meeting with IT industry body Nasscom and industries having significant presence in the US to discuss how they are working out in this environment, what their strategy is to deal with the matter,” Sitharaman told reporters here.

“We are going to have a clear exchange and discussions with them, and after that I will be able to have a clearer picture of where the industry is,” she said.

“There are several nuances to that…the issue is layered. We will decide how to tackle it together with the Ministry of External Affairs. We are also constantly in touch with our Embassy and Consulate Office in the US,” she added.

The External Affairs Ministry has said India’s interest and concerns on the matter have been conveyed both to the new US administration and the US Congress at senior levels.

IT industry body Nasscom has said that it will take an outreach delegation to Washington DC later this month to meet US administration officials, as well as senators, on concerns around H-1B visas and flow of skilled manpower between the two nations.

The delegation will highlight to the new US administration on jobs being created by Indian IT companies in the US, and contribution of Indian IT firms in making the US economy competitive, Nasscom said.