H-1B visa, most sought after by Indian IT professionals, is a work visa issued by the US government Indian IT majors TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra bagged 6,973 H-1B visa approvals in financial year 2017, a mere 39 per cent among the top 10 employers in terms of H-1B visa approvals.
This is one of the findings of an analysis of H-1B visa approvals by Washington-based non-profit think-tank NFAP or National Foundation for American Policy.
Also, top seven Indian IT companies - including TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra - experienced a whopping 43 per cent drop in their H-1B visa approvals between 2015 and 2017, NFAP said in its report on H-1B work visa, popular among Indian IT workers.
H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers.
The top 10 employers in terms of H-1B visa approvals in the NFAP report were Cognizant, Amazon, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Infosys, Google and Wipro, in that order.
"More H-1B visas are going to US technology companies, reflecting the strong demand for high-skilled talent in the US economy, and fewer visas are being used by Indian-based companies, which continues a recent trend," NFAP said in its report.Here are 10 things to know on H-1B visa and the latest report by NFAP:1.
8,468 new H-1B visas for Indian-based companies in the financial year 2017 equaled only 0.006 per cent of the 160 million in the US labour force, according to the NFAP report.( : "Most Bullish In A Decade" On Indian IT: Why Some Analysts Are Positive)2.
"(US) Congress and the administration should focus on reforms to raise the annual number of H-1B visas, increase the labor mobility of H-1B visa holders, raise the employment-based green card quota and eliminate the per country limit," the US-based think-tank said.Top 30 Employers of New Approved H-1B Initial Petitions (FY 2017)EmployerNew Approved H-1B Initial Petitions (FY2017)Cognizant3,194Amazon2,515TCS2,312Tech Mahindra2,233Microsoft1,479IBM1,231Intel1,230Infosys1,218Google1,213Wipro1,210Deloitte961Accenture954HCL America866Facebook720Apple673Syntel636PricewaterhouseCoopers616Capgemini562Ernst Young481Cisco479Larsen Toubro479Oracle447Qualcomm382Yahoo!316Mphasis310UST Global300Synechron282Goldman Sachs267NTT Data254JPMorgan Chase240(Source: USCIS; NFAP)3.
The report said that four of six high-profile US tech companies - Amazon (2,515), Microsoft (1,479), Intel (1,230), and Google (1,213) - were among the top 10 employers for approved H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2017.
The trend reflects the strong demand for high-skilled talent in the US economy, it added.4.
The top seven Indian-based companies received only 8,468 approved H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY 2017, a decline of 43 per cent for these companies since FY 2015, when it received 14,792 H-1B visas, the report said.5.
In its analysis, the National Foundation for American Policy said that the drop in H-1B visas for Indian-based companies is due to industry trends toward digital services such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence, which require fewer workers, and a choice by companies to rely less on visas and to build up their domestic workforces in the United States.6.
"To benefit the economy the current regulatory and administrative actions against high-skilled foreign nationals and their employers should end.
A modern economy requires access to talent, wherever that talent happened to be born," NFAP concluded.7.
The organisation also pointed out that international students "may be having second thoughts about coming to America, likely in response to recent administration announcements and policies that have made it more difficult for high-skilled foreign nationals to work in the United States".8.
"The number of international students from India enrolled in graduate level programs in computer science and engineering declined by 21%, or 18,590 fewer graduate students, from 2016 to 2017," the study found.9.
The US has announced several measures in the recent past to tighten the country's work visa rules, especially H-1B visa.
The Trump administration is planning to end H-4 visas, which allow spouses of H-1B visa holders to work legally in the US.
The move could impact more than 70,000 H-4 visa holders.
( :US Lawmakers Against Ending Work Permit To Spouses Of H-1B Holders)10.
H-4 visa is issued to spouses of individuals holding H-1B visa, most sought after among Indian IT professionals.