India's tech industry hails Joe Biden's stand on immigration, H-1B rules

Trump admin had placed several curbs and made unfavourable changes to the H-1B visa rules. Biden has either withdrawn or frozen some of these provisions

The Indian technology industry has welcomed the US President Joseph Biden for his stand on immigration and the H1B visa.  

Biden is expected to send a Bill to the Congress that proposes to eliminate the per country cap for employment-based green cards. All this is expected to help Indian IT professionals.

“US President Biden has pledged a new approach on trade and immigration, as well as a renewed and revitalised interest in science and technology. We appreciate his commitment to review and make necessary changes to harmful regulatory policies put in place by the outgoing administration,” Nasscom said on Thursday. 

The outgoing Donald Trump administration had placed several curbs and made unfavourable changes to the H1B visa programme — the visa most commonly used by Indian software engineers to travel to the US for work. 

Despite several representations from different quarters, the Trump administration had brought in several rules, such as requiring selection of H1B workers based upon highest salary, paying foreign workers significantly higher wages, redefining the employer-employee relationships for H1B purposes and so on. 

In a memo on Wednesday, the Biden administration either withdrew or froze some of these provisions. 

“A modern US immigration system drives innovation,” said Jason Oxman, president and chief executive officer, Information Technology Industry Council, adding, “The Biden-Harris administration’s planned actions make important and overdue investments in immigration reforms that can successfully meet the demands of a globally competitive, digital economy, including expanded visa programmes for high-skilled workers and families.” 

Nasscom said a key challenge the technology sector faces is the lack of required STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) talent in the US, clearly highlighted by the high degree of overall unemployment, and over 750,000-plus job vacancy postings in computer occupations as of January 13 — a 20 per cent increase since May 2020. 

“Despite a high degree of overall unemployment in the US, the demand for high-tech skills continues to remain robust — clearly endorsing the argument that there are just not enough workers with relevant skills to fill them. The rules announced by the previous administration will worsen this talent gap. Nasscom has been engaged with US policymakers on these issues, and we look forward to working together with the new US administration to find solutions to the STEM skills gap, and enable US to be more competitive, to grow, and create more jobs,” Nasscom said.