5 reasons why Indian IT professionals prefer India

In last couple of years there has been severe shortage of H1B visas. The H-1B Visa policy is quite a lucky draw. In last couple of years the number of Indians returning back has been constantly rising and according to survey recently conducted by Indus ventures around 60,000 professionals settled in US have returned to India in last year alone.
Here are the 5 reasons why Indian IT professionals prefer India:

1. Rapidly decreasing gap between Salaries in India and US. Salaries of Indian IT professionals in last few years. If you compare the living cost and salary ratio, I think an IT professional can lead much higher standard of living in India than he does in the Western countries.

2. Opportunities! India is full of opportunities, with every MNC globally trying to open shop in India. Infact, the reason for such higher salaries in IT professionals is lack of people in this Industry. According to one recent NASSCOM survey, India is facing severe shortage of IT professional by nearly 30%.

3.  The reasons are increasingly for professional challenges too! Some feel that they can ‘break the glass ceiling ‘ by taking up assignments in India-which would also help them propel their career into executive positions-in a few years time. I suspect the dual citizenship helps.

4. Few years back, India was not conducive to Startups and Entrepreneurship but times are changing now.

5. Digital India - It has helped to bring a new era in India where the IT professionals have a wide platform to project their ideas and prove their capability.  

India binds relations with Japan

 As India gives visa-on-arrival to the Japanese, Tokyo has responded by further relaxing conditions for multiple-entry visas for short-term stay for ordinary Indian passport holders. Japan extended the validity period of such visas from a maximum of three years to five years. Japan also increased duration of visit on multiple entry visas,including tourism and business, to 30 days from the earlier 15. The relaxation is based on an understanding reached between the two countries during Japanese PM Shinzo Abe's visit to India in December 2015.

According to Japan authorities, eligibility for multiple-entry visas has been expanded to include people with travel records to Japan for short-term visit in the past three years and those with travel records as temporary visitor to any other G7 countries.
The validity of visas for business purposes and also for "cultural and intellectual figures'' has been extended from 5 to 10 years. Hence, the bond between India and Japan seem to bind more tightly.

Issues faced during the H-1B visa process

H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations for up to six years.

Obtaining an H-1B visa, which is allocated through a lottery system, has become increasingly hard in the past few years. The Department of Homeland Security currently caps the amount of H-1B visas granted at 65,000 per fiscal year, with an additional 20,000 reserved for applicants with advanced degrees. Last year, DHS received an overwhelming 233,000 H-1B petitions in as little as a week; only a little over one-third of petitioners received one of the sought-after visas.

To be able to work during the summers and after graduation, students have the option of obtaining an Optional Practical Training (OPT) permit, which confers a 12-month work allowance. Those who wish to continue working in the United States after using the 12 months of work permitted by OPT have to apply for an H-1B visa.

While the U.S.’s current policy makes it more accessible for foreigners to obtain an F1 visa to study in the United States, the current cap level and competition for H-1B visas makes it difficult for graduates to stay and work in the country after graduation.

Historical figures from DHS reports show that, while from 2014-16 H-1B visas hit the 65,000 cap within five to seven days after the filing period opened, it took more than six months for H-1B visas to reach the same cap from 2010 to 2012.

U.K immigration rules to hit foreign workers

According to the new rule skilled workers from non-EU countries who come into the country on Tier-2 visas will face deportation after five years unless they can show minimum annual earnings of £35,000. Previously, after five years on a Tier-2 work visa, the individual could apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (or ILR) in the U.K. The income threshold used to be £20,800 – around £5,000 less than the average UK salary.

A possible 40,000 skilled workers — teachers, business and IT professionals, health sector workers and charity workers, a majority of them from India and South Asia — who have been living and working in the UK, paying their taxes and contributing their skills and earnings to the economy will be affected by the new rule.

There has been a major backlash to the rule, with a petition against it to the government quickly gathering over 100,000 signatures, the number needed to ensure a discussion on the issue in the House of Commons. The opposition has coalesced under the Stop35K campaign.

“I love my work and don’t want to leave,” said Shannon Harmon, an American charity worker who is affected by the rule. “Britain will lose skills massively and people will be deterred from working here.”

The Migration Advisory Committee set up by the government has predicted that in the next 10 year this measure will cost the UK £761 million. The order is set to increase the price of healthcare, education and business start-ups.

The Home Office claims the rule will “break the link between work and staying in the UK permanently” and boost employment for UK workers.

“These reforms will ensure that businesses are able to attract the skilled migrants they need, but we also want them to get far better at recruiting and training UK workers first,” the Home Office said in a statement.

New visa policies allow Engineering and tech students to stay longer in US

Some foreign students will be allowed to work in the United States on their student visas for as long as three years after graduating thanks to the new federal rule. This rule only applies to students studying science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), requires them to attend accredited universities in order get the visa extension. Those who attend unaccredited schools can only stay in the U.S. for one year.

The passage of the Obama administration rule, which grants a 24-month work extension to international STEM students, is a boost both for foreign students and for the American universities that have been increasingly trying to recruit them. 

The vast majority of foreign students pay full tuition, without relying on institutional scholarships or even federal student loans. They came to the United States in droves in 2015, growing at the fastest rate in 35 years. Most, especially those studying science and technology, came from China and India.

The work period is called “optional practical training,” or OPT, and it also gives students time to apply for a competitive H1-B visa. Previously, even students at schools that had not received a stamp of approval from the Education Department’s accrediting agencies could take advantage of the rule — a loophole that to the proliferation of unaccredited.

This policy will help the students to find better accredited college and ultimately improve the quality of education. This will also help the foreign employer to pick skilled Knowledge Workers.

India, Mexico need to look at tourist, business visa relaxation

India and Mexico need to look at ways to relax visa norms for businessmen and tourists to enhance economic ties between the two countries, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia has said. 

Noting that huge trade opportunities exist in both countries, she said: "The current trade figure of $6.2 billion is just a fraction of what we can do". 

Officials of the commerce department are likely to visit Mexico in the coming months for a high level working group and the visit would focus on ways to enhance trade and investment ties between the two countries. The group on trade investment and economic cooperation was set up in 2007 and met last in 2012. She said if the countries do not work on the visa issues then it would make it difficult for industry and tourists to move to each other countries. 

Mexico is the largest silver producer and fourth largest gold producer and we have an insatiable hunger for both. This would also help growth in tourism, services, pharmaceuticals, petroleum and automobiles, both sides can enhance cooperation.