For software cos, US visa rejections touch 40%

For software cos, US visa rejections touch 40%

Uptake of H-1B, L1 visas remains well under the prescribed limit

As if the global macroeconomic headwinds weren't enough, information technology firms are also grappling with higher rejection rates for working visas in the US due to dwindling jobs there. Indeed, things have come to such a pass that commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma was forced to raise the issue at an economic forum in Washington, DC in September this year. "Uptake of H-1B visas this year is less than half of the annual prescribed limit and the rejection rates have gone up," Sharma had said in his speech. Som Mittal, president of National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), alluded to slower uptake in US working visas, which in their heydays used to get exhausted by April or June but are now taking almost the full year to be fully utilised. "In normal years, the quota of H-1B, B1 and L1 visas released by the US government used to get over by April, May or June. Last year, it stretched up to February. This year, the rejection rates have shot up really very high. We don't know whether this is being done on the directive of the Congress," the Nasscom head said. He said the rejection rate in case of some companies had increased as much as 40% and the US consulate was using flimsy excuses to turn down visa applications. Several senators in the US administration have been blaming outsourcing of IT business to India for the increase in the rising unemployment rate in the US and have been advocating a hike in visa fee and cut in the number of visas to address the issue. In August, the US House of Representatives approved the Border Security Bill, which steeply hiked the H-1B and L1 visa fees for meeting the country's funding requirement to its secure border with Mexico. According to the bill, companies with less than 50% American workforce have to pay an additional $2,000 on H-1B and L1 visas over the existing visa fee of $2,500. Mittal said the industry representative body has raised concerns over this with the US government and Embassy. "There is a lot of uncertainty over US visa and members of our industry have met the US government and Embassy. We are working together on this. I am happy that the minister has raised the issue at the US forum," he said. Dr Ganesh Natarajan, deputy chairman and managing director of Zensar Technologies, said higher rejection rate of H-1B and L1 was delaying and affecting completion of projects. "Over the last two years, our rejection rate is up 3-4 times. And they (US Consulate) are using minor reasons for rejection of the application. For instance, if the applicant is not very clear on which technology he will be working on, then his application is being rejected," he said. Dr Natarajan said currently around 30-40 techies who are urgently needed for projects onsite in the US, have not been given working permit by the consulate. "There should be free movement of people across boundaries. The US administration should do something about this as it is coming in the way of smooth execution of our projects," he said. An analyst with a leading overseas brokerage house, who did not want to be named, said it was tough to quantify but fewer H-1B and L1 visas will certainly impact the IT company's execution ability and margins in the long run.