H-1B visa curbs will have deferred repercussions: Priyank Kharge

US President Donald Trump’s curbs on the H-1B visas will have “a deferred repercussion and impact” on India, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge said on Monday, adding that it was “too early” to think about a reverse brain-drain.

“No doubt there’ll be a deferred repercussion and a deferred impact,” Priyank said at a news conference, pointing out that Indians cornered 71% of all H-1B visas.

H-1B visas are non-immigration work visas, granted for three years and extendable up to six years, to highly-skilled foreign workers who are sponsored by companies to work in the US. Annually, 85,000 H-1B visa applications, mostly in the information technology, finance, and engineering sectors, are approved.

In recent years, Indian nationals have accounted for more than 70% of H-1B approvals. It is widely used in industries such as information technology, finance, and engineering.

Priyank said the White House had clarified that the staggering $100,000 fee imposed on the H-1B visa petitions would be a one-time charge and the new norms would be applicable only to fresh applications. Asked about reverse brain-drain, Priyank wondered why more than 2.5 lakh Indians were relinquishing their citizenship for a life in the US, Australia and Europe every year. “The union government should come up with a policy. If they do, we (Karnataka) will lead it,” he said.

“While it’s too early to predict if there’ll be reverse brain-drain, do we have the environment? Are you ready to pay $100,000-1,25,000 for an engineer?” Priyank asked.