NASSCOM Says Trump's Plan To Suspend H-1B Visas Will 'Harm US Economy', Urges Rethink

NASSCOM, the trade association of IT and Business Process Outsourcing companies in India, on Tuesday called the Trump administration’s decision to suspend visas for foreign workers “misguided” and “harmful” to the US economy.

The trade association has urged the US government to shorten the visa restriction to 90 days. “Lengthening these burdensome restrictions on U.S. companies that are trying to recover from the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic will only serve to harm our economy,” NASSCOM said in a statement.

The Trump administration will block the entry of foreign workers on H-1B visas  for skilled workers and L-1 visas for workers being transferred within a company for the rest of the year, an official told Reuters. The official said Trump will also block seasonal workers on H-2B visas, with an exception for workers in the food service industry.

In its statement, NASSCOM said, “Coming on the heels of the problems created by the coronavirus crisis and the USCIS and DOS office closures that have delayed the processing of visas and made it difficult, if not, impossible at times to travel to or from the United States, this new proclamation will prevent our companies and thousands of other organizations from accessing the talent they need from overseas.”

“Even though our companies have hired tens of thousands of Americans and invested billions of dollars in recent years, they like others in the sector utilize such high skilled individuals to services their clients.  This new proclamation will impose new challenge and possibly force more work to be performed offshore since the local talent is not available,” the statement said.

NASSCOM said its members provide essential services to hospitals, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, state and local government agencies, financial institutions, technology and communications firms, grocers, manufacturers, and thousands of other businesses across the United States. 

The trade association said it hoped the Trump administration would rethink its plans to move forward on “a series of regulatory changes that would place additional restrictions and costs on visa programs while doing little more than amplifying the harm already being done to the U.S. economy.”