India has filed a complaint against the US decision to impose high fees on temporary working visas, WTO said today.
"India notified the WTO Secretariat on March 3 that it has initiated a WTO dispute proceeding against the US regarding measures imposing increased fees on certain applicants for L-1 and H-1B categories of non-immigrant temporary working visas into the US, and measures relating to numerical commitments for H-1B visas," the WTO said in a statement.
India had earlier raised serious concerns over the issue saying the move would impact Indian IT professionals.
The statement said that according to India, the USA's measure "appear to be inconsistent" with the global norms.
India claims that these and comparable measures are not in conformity with several provisions of the GATS including those on movement of natural persons supplying services, it added.
The request for consultations is the first step in a dispute at the dispute settlement system of the WTO.
Consultations give the parties an opportunity to discuss the matter and to find a satisfactory solution without proceeding further with litigation. If consultations fail to resolve the dispute, the complainant may request the Dispute Settlement Body to establish a panel of experts to study the dispute.
