Donald Trump's merit-based immigration system may actually help Indian IT companies
CHENNAI: US president Donald Trump's push for a merit-based immigration system could benefit high-tech professionals from countries like India.
Trump, in his first address to Congress, noted that "nations around the world, like Canada, Australia and many others have a merit-based immigration system. Switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration, and instead adopting a merit-based system, will have many benefits: it will save countless dollars, raise workers' wages, and help struggling families, including immigrant families, enter the middle class."
Nasscom's head of corporate communications, Kavita Doshi, said Trump's stance on this issue has been consistent with what he has said earlier.
"Trump has always rooted for high-skilled labour mobility . We should give more credit to that, than to the rhetoric," she said. But, what about aides like White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who feel there are too many Asian tech CEOs in Silicon Valley? "One must remember everyone does not think like Steve Bannon," she added.
Bannon made those remarks when Trump was invited as a guest on the Breitbart News Daily radio show, to which the then presidential candidate said, "We have to be careful of that, Steve. You know, we have to keep our talented people in this country."
Immigration attorney Mark Davies earlier told TOI, "Donald Trump's statements that he intends to scrap the H-1B visa program is just a political position. The intent behind such a statement is on stopping abuse of the program and we don't believe it will impact L-1 visas of highly-qualified candidates."
He noted that Trump time and again has favoured the business and tech community hires of highly-skilled Asian executives. "One can ignore the rhetoric," he said.
However, a possible worrisome area for IT companies would be hiring costs, if, as Trump said in his address, his measures raise workers' wages. Analysts feel that the per person salary cost for new hires might go up, given the string of new proposals from both Republicans and Democrats.
"It is possible that instead of a lottery, visas could go to those willing to pay the highest salary . In 2013, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google paid a median wage of $94k-118k, vs $65k by services companies. Or, a rule could be that firms can only receive visas if <15% of their US employees hold H-1B or L-1 visas.Other proposed measures include visits by government officials to sites with visa workers, both at company and client locations (to check for violations)," said Louis Miscioscia, analyst at brokerage & investment firm CLSA, in a research report.
Trump, in his first address to Congress, noted that "nations around the world, like Canada, Australia and many others have a merit-based immigration system. Switching away from this current system of lower-skilled immigration, and instead adopting a merit-based system, will have many benefits: it will save countless dollars, raise workers' wages, and help struggling families, including immigrant families, enter the middle class."
Nasscom's head of corporate communications, Kavita Doshi, said Trump's stance on this issue has been consistent with what he has said earlier.
"Trump has always rooted for high-skilled labour mobility . We should give more credit to that, than to the rhetoric," she said. But, what about aides like White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who feel there are too many Asian tech CEOs in Silicon Valley? "One must remember everyone does not think like Steve Bannon," she added.
Bannon made those remarks when Trump was invited as a guest on the Breitbart News Daily radio show, to which the then presidential candidate said, "We have to be careful of that, Steve. You know, we have to keep our talented people in this country."
Immigration attorney Mark Davies earlier told TOI, "Donald Trump's statements that he intends to scrap the H-1B visa program is just a political position. The intent behind such a statement is on stopping abuse of the program and we don't believe it will impact L-1 visas of highly-qualified candidates."
He noted that Trump time and again has favoured the business and tech community hires of highly-skilled Asian executives. "One can ignore the rhetoric," he said.
However, a possible worrisome area for IT companies would be hiring costs, if, as Trump said in his address, his measures raise workers' wages. Analysts feel that the per person salary cost for new hires might go up, given the string of new proposals from both Republicans and Democrats.
"It is possible that instead of a lottery, visas could go to those willing to pay the highest salary . In 2013, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google paid a median wage of $94k-118k, vs $65k by services companies. Or, a rule could be that firms can only receive visas if <15% of their US employees hold H-1B or L-1 visas.Other proposed measures include visits by government officials to sites with visa workers, both at company and client locations (to check for violations)," said Louis Miscioscia, analyst at brokerage & investment firm CLSA, in a research report.
