After US, Singapore cuts down visas to Indians in IT sector

All Indian companies in Singapore have received communication on fair consideration, with otherwise means hiring local talent.

While Indian workers and companies in the information technology sector are recovering from Donald Trump's new visa norms for the United States, Singapore is quietly cutting down visas for Indians. The slashing has reportedly been in force since early 2016 and visas for IT workers has dropped drastically since then.

A report in the Times of India states that the drastic drop in visas to Indians has prompting the government to put on hold the review of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement citing the violation of trade pact. The report claims that Indian companies in Singapore are being advised to hire local talent which has led them to look at relocating some of their operations to other countries in the region.

The 'advisory' has been sent to companies such as HCL, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and L&T Infotech. "This has been lingering for a while but since early-2016, visas are down to a trickle. All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people," Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar is quoted by TOI.

The report said that Singapore authorities were insisting on what is called 'economic needs test', which requires compliance with certain economic criteria, to deny access to Indian professionals. This news comes at a time when Union External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj assured Indians that there need not be any worry about H1-B visas or job security for Indians working in the US. In her statement in the Rajya Sabha, Swaraj claimed that the Indian government was in talks with the US to ensure that bills that curb H1-B visas are not passed.

OneIndia news