US government clarifies no cancelation of H-1B work visa programme

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The US government on Thursday clarified that there are no plans to cap H-1B work visas for nations that force foreign companies to store data locally.

Reuters on Wednesday reported that the Trump government has apprised India that it is considering to restrict H-1B work visas for nations that force foreign companies to store data locally. The report comes at a time when the two countries are at tiff over tariffs and trade. After Washington withdrew a key trade privilege for New Delhi, India imposed higher tariffs on some US goods.

According to US government plan, H-1B visas will be issued to Indians at between 10% and 15% of the annual quota. The US government has not laid out any country-specific limit. Reports claim that at least 85,000 H-1B work visas granted each year and 70% go to Indians.

Both officials said they were told the plan was linked to the global push for "data localisation" in which a country places restrictions on data as a way to gain better control over it and potentially curb the power of international companies. US firms have lobbied hard against data localisation rules around the world.

A Washington-based industry source aware of India-US negotiations also said the US was deliberating capping the number of H-1B visas in response to global data storage rules. The move, however, was not solely targeted at India, the source said.

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"The proposal is that any country that does data localisation, then it (H-1B visas) would be limited to about 15% of the quota. It's being discussed internally in the US government," the person said.

The US Embassy in New Delhi did not respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative's office (USTR) referred questions to the State Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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