Jaitley raises H-1B visa issue with US officials

Washington, Oct 13 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyhas raised the issue of reforms in the H-1B and L1 visaprocesses during his talks with US Tre...

Washington, Oct 13 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyhas raised the issue of reforms in the H-1B and L1 visaprocesses during his talks with US Treasury and CommerceSecretaries and asked them to appreciate the contributions ofIndian professionals to America's economy.

Jaitley, who is in the US on a week-long tour, heldbilateral meetings with his US counterpart and TreasurySecretary Steven Mnuchin and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Rossand discussed Indo-US Economic cooperation, in particular, howbilateral trade and investment can be improved between the twocountries.

The Finance Minister highlighted the structural reformsIndia has undertaken through a series of bold measures,including the Goods and Service Tax (GST), financial inclusionand action against the shadow economy, an official statementsaid.

He also highlighted the contributions skilled Indianprofessionals have made to the US economy, and that this mustbe suitably appreciated by the US side, it said.

He made a strong case for reforms in H1B/L1 visaprocesses and social security contribution so that highcalibre Indian professionals serving American interest are notunfairly deprived of their well-earned money, the statementsaid.

The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows UScompanies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations.

It is the most sought after by Indian IT professionals.

The L-1 visa facilitates the temporary transfer offoreign worker in the managerial, executive or specialisedknowledge category to the US to continue employment with anoffice of the same employer, its parent, branch, subsidiary oraffiliate.

During his election campaign, President Donald Trump hadpromised to increase oversight of our H-1B and L-1 visaprogrammes.

Earlier, the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs(DEA), Ministry of Finance, Subhash Chandra Garg delivered akeynote Address on micro pension where he highlighted the bigchallenge of convincing policy makers and the potential youngpersons needing pension after their active life.

He appreciated the efforts of organisers in bringing awell-researched book as country and thematic reforms actionneeded to realise the dream of providing pensions to over 1.2billion people world-wide.

Secretary (DEA) also met with the CEO, World Bank; CEO,Global Infrastructure Hub and the Executive Vice President andCEO, MIGA besides the India World Bank team led by VicePresident South Asia. PTI NSA AKJNSA.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

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