Washington/Hyderabad:
Even as the Empire State building was lit up in the colours of the Indian flag to celebrate India's Independence day in Washington, the great American dream for the Indian professional may just be beginning to fade away. US President Barack Obama has signed a Border Security Bill that will increase the application cost of H1B and L1 visas.
According to the new bill, companies where foreigners constitute more than 50 percent of the work force will have to pay $2000 dollars for an H1B visa, which is up from the current $320.
This is expected to hit the Indian IT community in particular as H1B and L1 visas are commonly used by technology companies to bring highly skilled professionals into the US temporarily.
"I think it is unfair to us and to them as well because some 3 lakh jobs have been created by Indian companies worth some 100 billion dollars. Indian companies are going there, picking up bankrupt companies and creating wealth," said A B Bhushan, member, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.
Twenty seven-year-old MBA graduate Vijay Yadav is among those trying to get an H1B visa to work in the US.
"Last year, nine investment banks which took TARP funding were stopped from hiring H1Bs and now students are dependent on smaller companies but now that they have increased the fee to $2000, it is getting tougher and tougher," he said.
Indian software firms say it is time to look at newer markets if the US is adamant it does not want to get Bangalor-ed.
"We need to get out of this America fixation. Most of the work is being done in India. In these cost-conscious times, the customer himself says that I don't want to keep a person in the US unless it is very necessary so in that sense, most companies have started offshoring," said Amit Prasad, MD, Satnav Technologies.
India has already said that the bill is discriminatory and will cost Indian firms an extra 200 million dollars a year. Experts say this is a fit case to be taken to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as an unfair trade practice by the US to create an artificial barrier to stop legal workers.