A congressional bill would more than double the minimum salary for H1-B visa workers, which are often used by India IT firms

Chief Executives from some of India’s top technology companies are scheduled to head to Washington on February 20 in an effort to lobby US President Donald Trump against making sweeping visa changes they fear will harm their business, according to a report in Reuters.

R. Chandrashekhar, the Head of Nasscom, India’s IT representation body, told Reuters the delegation will present concerns about reforming the H1-B Visa, which is used to fly engineers to the United States to help clients.

The US Congress just introduced a bill that would more than double minimum salary of H1-B visa holders to US$130,000 per year, which would dramatically increase costs for these companies (the previous minimum salary was US$60,000).

Nasscomm represents 2,400 companies but, according to Bloomberg, the delegates will include the CEOs that use the H1-B system the most.

The bill was pushed forward by Democratic lawmaker Zoe Lofgren, and supporters argue the H1-B scheme is being misapplied and is stealing American jobs.

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Additionally, the Trump administration is reportedly drafting an executive order to overhaul the visa programmes in the US. However, it remains unclear if an executive order will have teeth or if it would act as a symbolic gesture.

Intertwined economies

The goal for the delegates is to emphasise the economic relationship between India and the US in the tech industry and highlight a growing economic interdependence.

Major Indian IT firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro experience a growth slowdown because American clients spent less ahead of the election, according to Reuters.

The financial news agency also reported that fears of H1-B visa reforms have sent shares tumbling in recent months.

Clients that utilise the Indian IT worker are some of America’s largest banks and multinational corporations.

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Finally, it should be noted that the H1-B bill has not gone through the legislative process and the vast majority of bills die along the way. Furthermore, the executive order has not been signed and it very well may never come to pass.

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