New Delhi: The US has said it would look into Indian industry's concern that it was being unfairly 'targeted' through the discriminatory visa fee hikes and social security measures. India has asked the US to look into the concern.
"We did raise (visa issues). We voiced our concerns and gave an estimate on damages it will do to our industry ," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after the conclusion of the 2nd Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) between the US and India here.
India is concerned about the US move to drastically hike the H-1B and L-1 visa charges, which is estimated to quadruple the Indian IT industry's annual visa costs to $400 million. The US Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said the move wasn't directed towards India but promised to look into the issue.
"I don't think that's true (Indian IT professionals being targeted). Visa change was not directed towards Indian workers...Increasing India-US business ties is one of our highest priorities," Pritzker added.
"But given the concerns expressed by Indian industry , I committed to minister Sitharaman to look into this," she said, adding that she wo uld get back on the issue. Pritzker said that Indians were major “beneficiaries“ as about 69% of US H-1B visas and 30% of all L-1visas were issued to them last year.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj asked the US to find a "just and nondiscriminatory" solution to the issue to avoid any adverse effect on the bilateral trade ties.
The issues of the visa fee and the totalisation agreements was also raised in the USIndia CEOs forum in the presence of Pritzker. The US side was represented by Secretary of State John Kerry and Pritzker in the S&CD while Indian team included External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Sitharaman.
