H1B Visa: 3 Key Focus Areas for Indian IT Transformation

US immigration reforms will accelerate changes in delivery models of Indian IT companies: Automation,Virtual and more of local talent.

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The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 introduced by California Congressman Zoe Lofgren that proposed the increase in the minimum salaries of H1B employees to $130,000 is part of the immigration reform effort of US President Trump to prioritize jobs for Americans. By raising the salary threshold, the Bill aims to narrow the gap between standard pay for an American tech employee and that of a foreign one.

The industry has vociferously voiced their arguments against this Bill and how it affect negatively the US Economy – from the short-term impact this policy will have (like the fact that higher cost of employment will ultimately mean higher cost of US companies buying IT services) to long-term impact (research reports that 20% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants and 50% of the US start-up ecosystem have an immigrant founder). However, this imminent change presents an opportunity for the Indian IT firms that have been under pressure for the last decade. Today, the Industry is ripe for disruption — on the one hand, traditional revenues have been declining, and while they still contribute 20% to the revenues, they depend highly on immigration legislation; on the other hand, the new revenue generated from digital, cloud and analytics products and services still represent a small percentage.