Trump’s H-1B Visa Ban: An Opportunity For Indian Talent!

U.S. President Trump’s H-1B executive order has created much debate and controversy. We think this news will boost the Indian technology industry with top global companies setting up distributed teams and offshore development centres in India and providing top talent access to incredible opportunities.

In a conversation with NDTV, I shared my reasoning for why I think Indian tech will only benefit from this ban:

Here are a few key details of this ban:

• The H-1B suspension will be in effect till December 31st, 2020. The suspension extends to H-2B, certain categories of H-4, J and L visas.
• Since the ban is effective immediately, the processing of all new H-1B, H-2B, J and L visa categories stand suspended. This means those who do not have a valid non-immigrant visa as of June 23, and are outside of the US, will not be allowed to enter the country until December 31.
• Current H-1B, H-2B, J and L visa holders, their spouses and children already present in the U.S shall not be impacted by the new worker visa ban.
• The motive behind the order is to protect American jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The IT sector will undoubtedly be positively and negatively impacted by this move.

IT Services firms typically adopt a 80-20 model for their engagements with 20% of resources allocated for onsite assignments with clients. These firms’ billings and revenues will definitely be negatively impacted by this decision.

That said, one of the primary growth drivers for the Indian IT industry over the last many years has been Global Capability Centers (GCCs) which has focused on helping foreign companies access the best talent in India. Given this business model, the H1-B ban will actually positively impact the growth of GCCs since it will allow them to access top talent in India (who might have otherwise moved to the U.S.) and build larger, more strategic teams for these American companies. 

GCCs in India have grown at 15-20% year-on-year and have emerged as the strongest growth driver for the Indian IT Industry. Unlike IT Services firms which rely on sending people onsite, GCCs firmly believes that the best opportunities must be available to the best talent, irrespective of where they are. The Times Of India framed the debate well when they spoke about the benefits that Indian talent will get from this ban that we shared with them. More on our thoughts with ToI here.

In addition, with the onset of the gig economy and the openness of top talent to explore options where they can have complete flexibility in where they work. The impact of the visa bans will not be felt as much as maybe 3-5 years ago. We recently surveyed 20,000 active professionals and had close to 60% of them mentioned being open to gig-based opportunities. This means H-1B or not, top professionals will find a way to make mobility and flexibility their top priority.

This topic has created a great deal of buzz online and global and domestic industry leaders have commented. If you are a technology professional, what do you think the impact of this move on your career growth path will be? Share your thoughts and let us know!

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