NEW DELHI: India is trying to convince the Unites States that encouraging talent is mutually beneficial for both countries, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told Parliament on Thursday.
“Issuing visas is the sovereign prerogative of other states. But at the same time there are very important economic and business and social interests...We are constantly in touch with the American system, the American government, members of the Congress to convince them that tapping into the Indian talent pool is for our mutual benefit,” the minister said.
Saying that the number of H1-B visas has been on the rise in the past few years and the rejection rates are dwindling, Jaishankar said that India has been successful in convincing the US ‘to a large extent’.
The minister was replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on whether seven Indian IT companies were disqualified for H1-B visas. “With regard to seven major Indian employers there is no disqualification on any of them. The number of visas for which they have applied to has come down in the last two years. Denial rates have also gone up,” he said, adding it is not only the Indian companies but also others which have seen denial rates increase.
As regards to the seven companies, they got 3,828 new visas and 15,230 renewals of H1-B visas last year. About the spouses of the Indians, Jaishankar said, H4 visa was introduced in 2015 for them to work in the US. “Indian’s today account for 93 per cent of the total number of visas issued in this category,” the minister told the House.