Indian IT companies unhappy over US visa screening

Updated on: Sunday, November 07, 2010

US protectionism policy is now assuming a new, and perhaps a more precarious form.

US consulates in the country are said to be rejecting more number of business visas (B1, L1, H1) over these past few months than earlier and visa interviews are bordering on interrogations.

Indian IT companies say there is also greater aggression among immigration personnel at US airports towards Indians who come to the US on valid business visas, with several professionals being even deported.

The situation has reached such a pass that IT industry body Nasscom has been forced to intervene. Nasscom has written a letter to the US ambassador in India, Timothy Roemer, raising the concerns. When contacted, Nasscom declined to give details, but said it had received complaints from member-companies and had taken the issue up "appropriately" with the US embassy in New Delhi.

The letter is said to have pointed out that the firms affected are all "perfectly good companies" which have "met all guidelines" .

Nasscom said it had also conveyed the matter to the Indian government. Whether it will come up in discussions with US President Barack Obama when he visits India later this week remains to be seen.

Almost every major IT company, including some US MNCs in India, is said to have experienced one or more of these problems. But few wanted to come on record for fear of being victimized. As one said, "We have not even appealed to the US consulate on visa harassment for fear we will put our entire pipeline of visas at risk."

Pratik Kumar, executive VP for HR in Wipro, said Nasscom represents the concerns of the industry and "hence what they are taking up with the authorities is an expression of concern that is prevailing across the industry". A senior official from one of India's biggest BPO companies, who did not want her name or her company's name to be mentioned, narrated a nasty experience their employees went through. In one instance, a group of about 5-6 employees that had landed in New York to undergo 6 weeks training at a new client's location, was taken to a separate room and put through what she describes as "third-degree questioning" . "They were told they were lying, that all that was written in their documents was fake. They were told that if they signed a letter stating that the company had sent them on an illegal visa, they would be allowed to go without any adverse recording about them. Eventually, they all withdrew their application to enter the US and came back," she said.

In another instance narrated by a major company, a group of its young employees who went together to the US embassy in Delhi for the visa interview were put in separate rooms and asked questions like "What is your company planning?" and threatening them with a "99-year ban" on travelling to the US. "They were all denied visas," an official of the company said.

Indian IT companies unhappy over US visa screening

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