H-1B shifts to save IT firms’ hiring cost

Revised rules to enable campus hiring without $100,000 cost

- URVI MALVANIA

THE PROPOSAL BY a US lawmaker to gradually phase out the H-1B visa over the next few years, alongside the latest round of relaxations to existing conversion rules, will help Indian IT services firms to hire for onsite roles, experts said.

Since firms will be able to shuffle one type of visa into another for those already residing legally in the US, they will have more flexibility in hiring students from American universities without applying for fresh petitions for which the charge has been raised to $100,000.

Simply put, individuals already in the US, such as students graduating from universities there, can now apply for a change of status at a significantly lower cost.