Planning To Get An IT Job In USA? Here’s Why It May Get A Lot More Difficult!

Indian IT companies, who thrive on their offshore business, might get a set back from the new US immigration bill, which has been proposed, but yet to be passed. This new bill talks about reduction in the number of H-1B visas for employees of IT companies. A restriction has been introduced that if companies have more than 50 employees abroad and more than 50% of those employees have H-1B and L1 visas.

This clearly means that the $146 billion dollar IT industry overseas will have serious implications in terms of business, finance and of course job opportunities abroad.  This bill will aim to safeguard the interest of the Americans, who are losing out on job opportunities to their Indian counterparts. This way, IT companies will be restricted to hire staff at a low cost and employing them abroad.

Currently, IT firms hire employees at low cost, send them abroad for training and then send them back to India, to do the work of the Americans. US Senators argue that this current model forfeits the real purpose of H-1B visas, which is basically to fill the gap for specialized job, which cannot be filled by Americans. But, now companies are getting low skilled labour at low wages to eat up the job market of Americans.

Experts feel that this kind of a policy is to safeguard the ‘qualified American jobs’, but it is also devised keeping the formathcoming US presidential elections in mind, where they want to show results on this people-related issue. They want to project their initiatives in assuring proper job opportunities for the American. Senator Ted Cruz proposed a ban on issuance of H-1B visas for a period of six months to investigate the condition.

He stated that, “The purpose of legal immigration should be to grow the economy, not to displace American workers. Under no circumstances should legal immigration levels be adjusted upwards so long as workforce participation rates remain below historical averages.” (Source : TOI)

HR professionals feel that though the bill is not proposing a complete termination of the H-1B visas, but reducing the number will largely impact the IT companies in terms of client engagement and business model, as employee travels under H-1B and L-1 visas has been a lucrative option to tap the US market and client projects.

A couple of months back, TCS and Infosys were given a clean chit by the US Department of Labour in cases related to visa violations. They have been found to be compliant in all respects. Many feel that H-1B immigrations have loopholes, which are exploited by Indian IT companies. Recently, two big firms in the US laid off their workers, replacing them with temporary visa holders from outsourcing Indian firms. This is seen as a big threat to American workers and the Government is ready to take steps to amend the policies, wherever required.

The proposed bill is a step towards this realization and they are ready to think about it seriously. But, this isn’t going to be an easy task. The deep rooted IT business scenario based on the ‘tried and tested’ model of outsourcing will not be that easy to get rid of. I mean, you definitely cannot ignore both the quality and quantity of talented IT heads in this part of the world, who does a fabulous job. It is important to think why the US companies moved to outsourcing in the first place. And, once this surge has started, it will not be easy to just put a full stop.

The new reforms will surely meet a lot of negation, but in a way, some of it is also required to consolidate the talent and job opportunities within their country. Also, it is time for IT companies to make necessary changes in their business model to handle such implications in the future.

Once, outsourcing changed the face of the IT industry, but today, the outsourcing ecosystem is up for a change. Hope it is good news for the right people and their businesses.