The US House of Representatives' vote to remove per country caps for permanent residence visas or Green Cards will benefit Indian tech professionals and also ease the pressure on the H-1B and L-1 visa categories, Nasscom said Wednesday.

At the same time, Nasscom felt that a final legislation to this effect could still be sometime away since the US Senate will now have to consider the Bill.

Terming it a “progressive move”, Nasscom Vice-President, Mr Ameet Nivsarkar, said country quotas had led to a situation where, typically, Indians would face a long waiting period for getting a Green Card. The annual quota for India was 2,800 but the demand was far more, he added. On the other hand, many other countries with smaller populations could not fully utilise their quota.

“Earlier, applicants in countries such as India and China — which have a large population and also a large pool of people wanting to settle in the US — would face problems because of country quotas. The move will free up Green Cards, which can be utilised by countries like India,” Mr Nivsarkar added.

The proposed legislation aims to change the current dispensation where permanent residence visas given to a country cannot be more than seven per cent of the total number of visas issued. The legislation proposes that permanent residence visas would be given on a first-come first-serve model. But the total number of Green Cards that are issued by the US each year will not change.

Mr Ganesh Natarajan, Global CEO of RPG group company Zensar Technologies said, “It is a very interesting move by the US as it is trying to strengthen its image of being immigration friendly.”

However it “remains to be seen whether or not this will cause the US to further increase the costs associated with securing temporary work permits,” Mr Natarajan added.

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