Voicing concern over the visa fee hike imposed by the US Government on Indian IT firms, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has urged the Barack Obama administration to undo the “discriminatory” action.
Raising the issue prominently at a meeting with US Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman here, Jaitley pointed out that the H-1B and l1 visa fee hike largely targets Indian IT companies and professionals hired by them for their operations in the United States.
Jaitley, who held a bilateral meeting with the USTR, also reiterated India’s keenness for the early conclusion of a Totalisation Agreement with the United States.
The US has entered into agreements called Totalisation Agreements with several nations for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes.
Under these, professionals of both the countries would be exempted from social security taxes when they go to work for a short period in the other country. The two countries are also engaged in negotiations for a Bilateral Investment Treaty to protect investments.
As per industry estimates, Indian professionals have contributed a whopping $25 billion or so to the United States Government by way of social security during the last decade, without being able to draw any benefit from it or retrieve their contributions.
On the broader theme of economic relations with the United States, Jaitley emphasised that India looks forward to strengthen and deepen the economic engagement in order to rapidly increase bilateral trade and investment partnership.
The Finance Minister was accompanied by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian and other officials.
last year, the US Congress imposed a special fee of up to $4,500 on H-1B and l-1 visas -- popular among Indian IT companies -- to fund a 9/11 healthcare Act and biometric tracking system.
While agreeing on the $1.1 trillion spending Bill, Congressional leaders decided to impose a special fee of $4,000 on certain categories of H-1B visas and $4,500 on l-1 visas.
Jaitley is currently on an official trip to Washington DC to attend the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and other sessions.