BHARAT CAN DO LITTLE ON U.S. VISA PROPOSAL, SAY EXPERTS
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By Rituparna Bhuyan in Indraprasth aka New Delhi
Rediff
Monday, April 27, 2009
Even as India reacted strongly against the proposed changes
in the US visa regime, trade experts said the country could
do little in multilateral forums like the World Trade
Organization to appeal against implementation of such
measures.
The proposed changes, anchored by Senators Chuck Grassley
and Dick Durbin in the US Senate, will adversely impact
Indian infotech companies like Wipro [Get Quote] and
Infosys [Get Quote]. That is because firms cannot hire
employees under H-1B and L-1 visas if more than half their
workforce hold these two work visas.
Both the visas belong to the non-immigrant category. But H-
1B visas are more lucrative, as they are for a longer
duration of three years. L-1 visas are for a much shorter
duration and are used by employees who are transferred to
the US offices of a company. Indian infotech companies need
to send professionals to onsite centres in US for long
periods and hence look for H-1B visa-holders.
"Trade restrictive practices can be taken up in the WTO if
they violate commitments made to the apex global world
trade body. The US has not committed anything on visas or
movement of professionals from other countries. Hence,
other WTO members like India cannot take up the issue in
the WTO," said R S Ratna, professor, Indian Institute of
Foreign Trade.
Experts suggest that the only immediate solution to the
issue is to tone down the proposed visa provisions.
"Current WTO provisions are related to market access.
Whatever is being proposed in US is related to domestic
regulations. If US companies say that restricting access to
foreign professionals will adversely impact them, the
government may listen to them," said Arpita Mukherjee,
professor, Indian Council for Research on International
Economic Relations.
For a long-term solution, Mukherjee called for greater
emphasis on services negotiations at the Doha Round of
world trade talks, so that countries have binding
commitments on issues like this. The Doha Round talks have
been in limbo since mid-2008 due to differences among
members on market access ambitions.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, known for his hawkish stand
in the WTO circle, reacted strongly against the proposed
amendments. "The Bill will clearly restrict the ability of
the Indian IT companies to compete in the US marketplace.
This is certainly not in line with the US President's stand
against protectionism at the recent London G-20 meeting and
our desire to mainstream development in the Doha
negotiations," he said in an e-mailed statement.
More at:
http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/apr/27/india-can-do-little-on-us-visa-proposal.htm
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