Fewer H-1B Visas Used By Indian IT Companies, More Going To US Firms: Report
TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra bag 6,973 H-1B visas in FY 2017 H-1B approvals granted to top 7 Indian IT firms down 43% during 2015-17 8,468 new H-1B visas for India-based firms only 0.006% of US labour force
Indian IT majors TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra bagged 6,973 H-1B visa approvals in financial year 2017, a mere 39 per cent among the top 10 employers in terms of H-1B visa approvals. This is one of the findings of an analysis of H-1B visa approvals by Washington-based non-profit think-tank NFAP or National Foundation for American Policy. Also, top seven Indian IT companies - including TCS, Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra - experienced a whopping 43 per cent drop in their H-1B visa approvals between 2015 and 2017, NFAP said in its report on H-1B work visa, popular among Indian IT workers. H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers. The top 10 employers in terms of H-1B visa approvals in the NFAP report were Cognizant, Amazon, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Infosys, Google and Wipro, in that order. "More H-1B visas are going to US technology companies, reflecting the strong demand for high-skilled talent in the US economy, and fewer visas are being used by Indian-based companies, which continues a recent trend," NFAP said in its report.
Here are 10 things to know on H-1B visa and the latest report by NFAP:
1. 8,468 new H-1B visas for Indian-based companies in the financial year 2017 equaled only 0.006 per cent of the 160 million in the US labour force, according to the NFAP report.
(Also read: "Most Bullish In A Decade" On Indian IT: Why Some Analysts Are Positive)
2. "(US) Congress and the administration should focus on reforms to raise the annual number of H-1B visas, increase the labor mobility of H-1B visa holders, raise the employment-based green card quota and eliminate the per country limit," the US-based think-tank said.
Top 30 Employers of New Approved H-1B Initial Petitions (FY 2017) | |
Employer | New Approved H-1B Initial Petitions (FY2017) |
Cognizant | 3,194 |
Amazon | 2,515 |
TCS | 2,312 |
Tech Mahindra | 2,233 |
Microsoft | 1,479 |
IBM | 1,231 |
Intel | 1,230 |
Infosys | 1,218 |
1,213 | |
Wipro | 1,210 |
Deloitte | 961 |
Accenture | 954 |
HCL America | 866 |
720 | |
Apple | 673 |
Syntel | 636 |
PricewaterhouseCoopers | 616 |
Capgemini | 562 |
Ernst & Young | 481 |
Cisco | 479 |
Larsen & Toubro | 479 |
Oracle | 447 |
Qualcomm | 382 |
Yahoo! | 316 |
Mphasis | 310 |
UST Global | 300 |
Synechron | 282 |
Goldman Sachs | 267 |
NTT Data | 254 |
JPMorgan Chase | 240 |
(Source: USCIS; NFAP) |