H-1B visa, data flows in focus at ICT working group meeting
The second proposed rule directly affects ITeS companies and global capability centres (GCCs) such as TCS, HCL and Infosys.
Issues related to H-1B visa, cross border data flows, and manufacturing of semiconductors, telecom equipment and electronics dominated the recently held meeting of the India-US Information and Communications Technology Working Group, which was established in 2005.
During the meeting conducted on Thursday, IT service companies such as TCS and HCL, along with industry body NASSCOM, brought up issues related to the US Department of Homeland Security’s plan to modernise the rules around H-1B visa, the US visa that allows American companies to temporarily hire foreign nationals in specialised fields. While some of the changes were welcomed by the Indian companies and associations, such as those to combat H-1B related frauds, others were not. These changes were proposed by the DHS in October 2023 but all have not come into effect yet.
“When it comes to H-1B visas focusing on H-1B modernisation recommendations of USCIS [US Citizenship and Immigration Services], we applauded efforts to streamline the H-1B registration process. We made two recommendations on behalf of the industry. First, the issue on efforts to narrow down speciality occupation definition because linking degrees to job roles reduces flexibility, something that is required even more in the age of AI,” said vice president and head of global trade and development at NASSCOM, Shivendra Singh, referring to the proposed rule that the job in question must be related to the degree received by the applicant.
The second proposed rule directly affects ITeS companies and global capability centres (GCCs) such as TCS, HCL and Infosys. Under the proposed rule, the US government seeks to treat an Indian ITeS company, such as a TCS --- whose employees regularly go to work on site of a client in the US (such as a Bank of America) on an H-1B visa linked to TCS --- as a staffing or a recruitment agency and wants the ITeS company’s employee to be treated as an employee of the American client for the purposes of an H-1B.
This is something Indian companies believe misidentifies how ITeS companies actually work. “On the issue of third party placement— given the tech industry is a corporate entity and provides services, it is not possible for their employees to be part of the organisation hierarchy of client companies when they position their employees on client sites, another recommendation made by USCIS. This is a confusion being made with staffing firms, which is not correct. These recommendations should not be implemented as it will reduce US competitiveness,” Singh said.
NASSCOM also requested the US government to make the Stateside H-1B Visa Renewal Pilot Project permanent and to include the employee’s spouse and family within its scope, Singh said. To renew an H-1B visa, the applicant has to exit the US and come to India to get their visa stamped. Under this pilot programme, which ended in April this year, applicants were not required to exit the US.
Issues related to semiconductor, electronics and telecom equipment manufacturing were also discussed. Representatives from Tata Electronics and HP were in attendance.
The participants discussed the need to create a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) for telecom equipment so that if telecom equipment is tested in India, the US does not need to re-test it, and vice versa. “It is incomprehensible why in such a warm and exalted strategic relationship, on the ground, companies are subjected to the same tests multiple times on both sides,” Pankaj Mohindroo, chairperson of India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), said. Mohindroo was present at the meeting.
China’s role in the global manufacturing space loomed large. In electronics manufacturing, Mohindroo and others pointed out that China still accounts for the lion’s share of the world’s manufacturing capability.
There was discussion around investments as well. Mohindroo said that India and US’ actions to block investment from China in critical sectors needs to be backed by business volume and sales. “US companies have to invest aggressively in Indian supply chains and companies. Indian businesses also must have a presence in the US, either in terms of warehouses, or presence in universities, or proper branches and buy outs too,” he said.
While discussing cross-border data flows, both India and the US looked at how it could be enabled in a safe and trusted manner. “The US side mentioned that APEC CBPR [AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation Cross Border Privacy Rules] certification has been useful in enabling safe cross border data flows and cooperation between member countries and we should look at how to make recently setup global CBPR more mainstream,” Ashish Aggarwal, head of public policy at NASSCOM, said.
Aggarwal said that the industry body had informed both the government about how it was in the process of creating a focus group with interested Indian and US-headquartered companies in India to understand cross border privacy rules better, “especially because even after signing up for CBPR certification, the commitments remain completely voluntary”.
Despite the conversation around cross-border data flows, Reliance Jio chairperson Akash Ambani’s recent remarks that Indian data should remain within Indian data centres were not mentioned at all.
The meeting, inaugurated by American ambassador Eric Garcetti and IT secretary S. Krishnan, was divided into two parts: in the first half of the day, industry leaders and associations from both countries met with government officials of the two nations and discussed issues. Government officials from the US included Steve Lang, the US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. From India, Sushil Pal, joint secretary in MeitY, responsible for international cooperation division, electronics manufacturing and semiconductors, led the meetings, along with officials from department of telecommunications and ministry of external affairs. In the second half, government to government meetings were held. Other companies included Salesforce, Mastercard, Google, Meta, AWS and OpenAI.
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