After the US President Donald Trump announced H1-B Visa fee totalling Rs 88 lakhs, Microsoft and JPMorgan advised employees holding H-1B visas to remain in the US.
In an advisory, Microsoft strongly recommended H-1B and H-4 visa holders to return to the United States ahead of the September 21 deadline.
Similarly, JP Morgan has directed its H1-B Visa holding employees to remain in the US and avoid travelling abroad until fresh guidance.
The company issued memos are a direct result of Trump’s biggest crackdown effort on immigration, which could potenially reduce highly-skilled foreigners employed by top US-based IT firms.
Major Indian IT firms such as Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro, and Tata Consultancy Services have long depended on the program to place engineers and developers in US projects.
With visas typically valid for three years and renewable up to six, the new $100,000 annual fee could make it extremely expensive for companies to retain Indian professionals, especially given the decades-long wait for Green Cards.
“If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
Information technology (IT) firms in particular have prominently manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields, according to The White House statement.
Meanwhile, the shares of IT services companies, including US-listed Indian firms, dropped between 2% and 5% following the announcement, as per a Reuters report.
