Visa clarity needed

The US government has, according to a media report, opened an investigation against two of the biggest Indian outsourcing companies, TCS and Infosys, for possible violations of H1B visa rules. This is not the first occasion on which Indian IT companies have faced such probes nor is it likely to be the last. The two companies have denied reports that the US department of labour has initiated a special probe into possible violations of rules pertaining to visas for foreign technology workers. Wherever the truth may lie, it is undeniable that visas to Indian technology workers is a long-standing issue on which the two countries must work together as it is beginning to become a major irritant.

It is hardly the fault of Indian IT professionals if Americans do not wish to do certain types of customer-service-oriented jobs that are essentially a back office operation. If an American company chooses to outsource jobs to non-immigrant Indians, the US company is the one to blame for placing economising measures over employment of Americans, especially as they seem not to be squeamish about Americans having to train their replacements.

Even President Barack Obama has been known to milk the sentiment by referring to “Bangaloring” as the evil outsourcing back office force that robs Americans of their jobs. Visa reforms have been on the backburner for too long in the US and seem to bob up only when an election year comes along. It would be in the interest of the world’s largest democracies to remove the blocks that are holding back open trade ties.