Expect negative clauses in Immigration Bill axed: Nasscom

There is a need to resolve Immigration Bill issues with the US at the earliest, believes Som Mittal, President, NASSCOM.

Concerns surrounding the proposed Immigration Bill and its adverse impact on visas for highly skilled non-immigrant workers have been an overhang for the Indian information technology (IT) companies for quite some time now. In July, the US Senate had passed an Immigration Bill that changed rules governing H-1B and L-1 employment visas intended for high-skilled workers. The Bill is yet to be approved by the House of Representatives. Mittal recently accompanied Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with a business delegation for a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama. Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18’s Shereen Bhan, he said that he expects negative provisions to be removed from the bill and US companies like IBM have also been supporting the House Bill. Also Read: Credit Suisse sees 15-20% IT growth; Nasscom stays cautious Clauses such as increased visa fees, caps on the placement of H1-B workers in client sites and reduction in the number of H1-B workers in the workforce of companies from about 75 percent to 50 percent in the next three years have been fretting technology companies. In August, a group of eight Indian IT companies including Infosys, Cognizant, MindTree and Hexaware formed a lobbying consortium in order to handle the conversation with the US Congress. (Read More) The House of Representatives is likely to take up the bill during Feb-March 2014, the Nasscom chief added.