"Charges against Indian IT firms on H-1B visas must be probed"

Press Trust of India  |  Bengaluru 

The National Confederation of Unites (NCU) today said the CAI should look into the US government's accusation that top Indian IT firms are "unfairly" cornering the lion's share of H-1B visas by putting extra tickets in the lottery system.

The Competition Authority of (CAI) should probe the allegations, since the voices of IT employees are not heard by and IT companies, NCU Chairman JSR Prasad told PTI.



The NCU, founded to protect the workers in IT/ITES in India, is a registered National Federation that supports IT/ITES workers in different states.

"CAI should probe the allegations and tell whether these companies (and TCS) have done something wrong orsomething right..." hesaid.

Yesterday, had come out in defence of its members, and Infosys, saying the two accounted for only 8.8 per cent of the approved H1B visas in 2014-15.

had also contended that the average wage for visa holders is over 82,000 US dollars, apart from a fixed cost of about15,000 US dollars incurred for each visa issued (including visa cost and related expenses).

Prasad also alleged that has failed to take cognisance of the allegations made by the Donald Trump administration and to take appropriate action to protect the image and reputation of Indian IT companies.

Critics believe that the prevailing visa regime allowscompanies to bring in "cheap" labour from countries like India, which adversely impacts local employment opportunities.

The Trump administration had also said that the H-1B visas areawarded through random lottery with about 80 per cent of H-1B workers being paid less than the median wage in their fields.

NCU General Secretary Karthik Shekhar also said, "also should be blamed for US administration's allegations against our top IT companies for putting extratickets in lottery system to corner the lion's share of H-1B visas."

"If these companies were to do it, they should have red flagged them," he added.

Shekhar, who is a former IT professional and a filmproducer, urged IT professionals working in the US to comeback to where there are immense opportunities includingstartups lying for them to be picked up.

"US was the country where people used to go to grab opportunities.. Now let us replace it with . Come back totap opportunities lying around..," he said.

"Do startups.. Don't worry about and people belonging to companies against whom the Trump administration has levelled allegations," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

"Charges against Indian IT firms on H-1B visas must be probed"

The National Confederation of Unites (NCU) today said the CAI should look into the US government's accusation that top Indian IT firms are "unfairly" cornering the lion's share of H-1B visas by putting extra tickets in the lottery system. The Competition Authority of India (CAI) should probe the allegations, since the voices of IT employees are not heard by Nasscom and IT companies, NCU Chairman JSR Prasad told PTI. The NCU, founded to protect the workers in IT/ITES in India, is a registered National Federation that supports IT/ITES workers in different states. "CAI should probe the allegations and tell whether these companies (Infosys and TCS) have done something wrong orsomething right..." hesaid. Yesterday, Nasscom had come out in defence of its members, TCS and Infosys, saying the two accounted for only 8.8 per cent of the approved H1B visas in 2014-15. Nasscom had also contended that the average wage for visa holders is over 82,000 US dollars, apart from a fixed cost of ... The National Confederation of Unites (NCU) today said the CAI should look into the US government's accusation that top Indian IT firms are "unfairly" cornering the lion's share of H-1B visas by putting extra tickets in the lottery system.

The Competition Authority of (CAI) should probe the allegations, since the voices of IT employees are not heard by and IT companies, NCU Chairman JSR Prasad told PTI.

The NCU, founded to protect the workers in IT/ITES in India, is a registered National Federation that supports IT/ITES workers in different states.

"CAI should probe the allegations and tell whether these companies (and TCS) have done something wrong orsomething right..." hesaid.

Yesterday, had come out in defence of its members, and Infosys, saying the two accounted for only 8.8 per cent of the approved H1B visas in 2014-15.

had also contended that the average wage for visa holders is over 82,000 US dollars, apart from a fixed cost of about15,000 US dollars incurred for each visa issued (including visa cost and related expenses).

Prasad also alleged that has failed to take cognisance of the allegations made by the Donald Trump administration and to take appropriate action to protect the image and reputation of Indian IT companies.

Critics believe that the prevailing visa regime allowscompanies to bring in "cheap" labour from countries like India, which adversely impacts local employment opportunities.

The Trump administration had also said that the H-1B visas areawarded through random lottery with about 80 per cent of H-1B workers being paid less than the median wage in their fields.

NCU General Secretary Karthik Shekhar also said, "also should be blamed for US administration's allegations against our top IT companies for putting extratickets in lottery system to corner the lion's share of H-1B visas."

"If these companies were to do it, they should have red flagged them," he added.

Shekhar, who is a former IT professional and a filmproducer, urged IT professionals working in the US to comeback to where there are immense opportunities includingstartups lying for them to be picked up.

"US was the country where people used to go to grab opportunities.. Now let us replace it with . Come back totap opportunities lying around..," he said.

"Do startups.. Don't worry about and people belonging to companies against whom the Trump administration has levelled allegations," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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