Posted on 01/19/2016 10:22:42 AM PST by ConservingFreedom
India's top software services firm Wipro said the recent H1B visa fee hike by the US will have a "large impact running into multi-million dollars", on Monday. The company will try to hire more locals in the US to offset the impact.
"It is a large impact running into multi-million dollars for Wipro and also I'm sure for similar such organizations, and it will have meaningful impact on our operating margins. Once we start applying for that, we will disclose those numbers," Wipro chief financial officer Jatin Dalal told reporters in Bengaluru, reported the Press Trust of India. "...this is certainly that was unexpected and we will have to work through it," he added.
The US, under the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, has imposed a special fee of $4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visa and $4,500 on L1 visa.
Indian IT companies would have to pay between $8,000-$10,000 per H-1B visa from April 1.
According to Indian IT body Nasscom, this is expected to have an impact of about $400 million annually on India's technology sector.
The industry, however, doesn't seem to be too worried. Wipro's larger rival, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has said the fee hike was not a big concern and that it is more of a cost issue than a revenue issue. Infosys too, has said the fee hike will have less than 0.3% impact on its margins.
Dalal said the key will be to diversify its workforce.
"I think the key also is for us to be able to diversify... to be able to localize more with in US. That is what we have already embarked on... by having local US centers and being able to deploy people from within those centers within the US is how in the long or medium term, we will mitigate the issues around visa and in general labor movement across the globe," he added.
Multiply these fees by 100 and it might be a start.
No doubt about it... If are serious about putting American workers first, that needs to be a priority.
These are 5 year contracts so these fees are minuscule.
But I thought H-1Bs only do jobs for which the skills simply don't exist in the US. /s
This started about 6 months ago.
You get a call from a Bangalore headhunter offering you 35/hr for a 80/hr job.
After you hang up on him, he goes and hires one of his buddies in the USA.
They do, just that H1-b’s (and brethren in other programs) possess one skill - unquestioned subservience derived from lack of citizenship ;)
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