India, US to hold two-day talks at WTO on hike in H-1B and L-1 visa fees

[OhioChick]

India and the US will engage in a two-day bilateral consultation, starting Wednesday, at the World Trade Organization (WTO), on the US move to drastically hike H-1B and L-1 visa charges, which is estimated to quadruple the Indian IT industry’s annual visa costs to $400 million.

Published: May 11, 2016 6:28 AM

India and the US will engage in a two-day bilateral consultation, starting Wednesday, at the World Trade Organization (WTO), on the US move to drastically hike H-1B and L-1 visa charges, which is estimated to quadruple the Indian IT industry’s annual visa costs to $400 million.

“India is hopeful that deliberations during the WTO consultations shall be constructive and it would result in removal of these trade-restrictive measures,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.

India had in March taken the US to the WTO’s dispute settlement body against the move. Under the WTO rule, if consultations fail to resolve the dispute, the complainant will be at liberty to request the dispute settlement body to form an experts’ panel to study the dispute.

India is a major user of such temporary work visas for skilled professionals, making up for roughly 67% of the H1-B visas and 28% of the L-1 visas (in 2013-14).

http://www.financialexpress.com/article/economy/india-us-to-hold-two-day-talks-at-wto-on-hike-in-h-1b-and-l-1-visa-fees/252581/