While Indian IT employees and companies have been nervously biting their nails after the presentation of the H-1B Visa bill, there’s one individual who is confident that at least an executive order to this effect, won’t come. And that individual is Chicago-based Shalabh Kumar, the head of the Republican Hindu Coalition and a prominent supporter as well as donator to President Trump’s electoral campaign.
On being questioned about the status of the H-1B visa bill being proposed in the States, he contradicted all media reports saying no such order is being drafted by the current administration. He said that the White House doesn’t have any reforms for H-1B planned as of now.
Instead, he is of the opinion that IT would play a prominent role in the growth of America’s economy as there is a shortage of the same in the country. Shalabh believes that the U.S would witness a huge surge in the requirements of their IT sector and that gap can only be filled by IT professionals from India. Talking about the same, Shalabh further adds,
There will be a need of more H-1B visas. The number of people on H-1B from India is certainly going to increase.
He further also adds that the Trump administration wouldn’t reek havoc on those willing to gain H-1B visa to enter the country. Instead, it’ll be working to ensure that there is no fraud and abuse of these work-visas. The government is also expected to start work on eliminating the country-based quota for allocation of green cards for legal permanent residents. To this, Shalabh says,
This would be of great help Indian IT professionals. The current wait time for Indians to get a green card could be as many as 35 years.
This commentary from a prominent Indian-American supporter of Trump comes on the heels of reports that the US Government might soon crack down on temporary H-1B visa workers in the U.S. And that they were also planning certain reforms, including the 2x increase in the minimum wage for obtaining the visa. Post the release of these reports, the Indian IT sector lost Rs 33,000 crore in market cap during that day.
