New US H-1B norms won't make much difference: Nasscom
Bengaluru: The United States' latest move on issuing H-1B visas to software engineers will not make much difference to Indian IT firms, apex industry body Nasscom said on Friday.
"The new measure will be an unnecessary and expensive burden that will not make much difference to our member firms, which are in the business of providing solutions to client companies," said the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) in a statement here.
In line with US President Donald Trump's "Buy American and Hire American" policy, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Thursday declared that the hiring firms have to prove that their employees working at a third-party worksite have specific and non-qualifying speculative agreements in specialty occupation.
The H-1B programme offers temporary US visas that allow firms to hire skilled overseas professionals working in areas with shortage of qualified American workers. Indians get most of the H1-B visas, although there are no national quotas for the facility nor is it specifically designed for Indians.
Of the 65,000 H-1B visas the USCIS issues for October 1-September 30 period every year, about 40,000 are bagged by Indian firms, mostly in the services sector. The top 10 global firms, including TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL and Tech Mahindra, corner about 20,000-25,000, with the remaining shared by mid-size and smaller Indian firms.
Under the new policy, the USCIS says the employers must provide contracts and itineraries for employees who will work at a third-party location.
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Rubio says NATO “does not exist without the United States”
Washington: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has criticised NATO, saying the military alliance “does not exist without the United States”.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Rubio said, “And everyone knows this fact.”
His remarks come amid growing tensions over the ongoing US-Israeli military actions against Iran.
US President Donald Trump has also sharply criticised NATO for not supporting the campaign. In a post on Truth Social, he said NATO countries are “COWARDS and we will REMEMBER!”
