Comments - H1B Visa Abuse: What Do Software Engineers Earn in India and Pakistan? - PakAlumni Worldwide: The Global Social Network 2024-03-29T14:24:08Zhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profiles/comment/feed?attachedTo=1119293%3ABlogPost%3A113604&xn_auth=no#Microsoft-owned platform #Gi…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2023-03-28:1119293:Comment:4224202023-03-28T15:04:51.910ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p><span>#Microsoft</span><span>-owned platform</span> <span>#GitHub</span> <span>lays off entire</span> <span>#engineering</span> <span>team in</span> <span>#India</span><span>. "We’re talking of ~100 engineers.....owning fewer and lower priority stuff"</span> <span>#layoffs</span> <span>#jobs</span> <span>#software…</span></p>
<p><span>#Microsoft</span><span>-owned platform</span> <span>#GitHub</span> <span>lays off entire</span> <span>#engineering</span> <span>team in</span> <span>#India</span><span>. "We’re talking of ~100 engineers.....owning fewer and lower priority stuff"</span> <span>#layoffs</span> <span>#jobs</span> <span>#software</span> <span><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/microsoft-owned-platform-github-lays-off-entire-engineering-team-in-india/articleshow/99055653.cms?from=mdr" target="_blank">https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/microsoft-owned-platform-github-lays-off-entire-engineering-team-in-india/articleshow/99055653.cms?from=mdr</a></span></p> #India's #visa temples attrac…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2022-12-18:1119293:Comment:4165892022-12-18T02:33:15.386ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p><span>#India's #visa temples attract #Hindu devotees aspiring to go abroad. These temples can be found in almost any Indian city with a #US consulate – 104.5 WOKV</span><br></br><br></br><span><a href="https://www.wokv.com/news/world/indias-visa-temples/UL6DOVPCITX7RTECQF2UXUBURE/" target="_blank">https://www.wokv.com/news/world/indias-visa-temples/UL6DOVPCITX7RTECQF2UXUBURE/</a></span><br></br><br></br><br></br><span>CHENNAI, India — (AP) — Arjun Viswanathan stood on the street, his hands folded, eyes fixed on…</span></p>
<p><span>#India's #visa temples attract #Hindu devotees aspiring to go abroad. These temples can be found in almost any Indian city with a #US consulate – 104.5 WOKV</span><br/><br/><span><a href="https://www.wokv.com/news/world/indias-visa-temples/UL6DOVPCITX7RTECQF2UXUBURE/" target="_blank">https://www.wokv.com/news/world/indias-visa-temples/UL6DOVPCITX7RTECQF2UXUBURE/</a></span><br/><br/><br/><span>CHENNAI, India — (AP) — Arjun Viswanathan stood on the street, his hands folded, eyes fixed on the idol of the Hindu deity Ganesh.</span><br/><br/><span>On a humid morning, the information technology professional was waiting outside the temple, the size of a small closet – barely enough room for the lone priest to stand and perform puja or rituals for the beloved elephant-headed deity, believed to be the remover of obstacles.</span><br/><br/><span>Viswanathan was among about a dozen visitors, most of them there for the same purpose: To offer prayers so their U.S. visa interviews would go smoothly and successfully. Viswanathan came the day before his interview for an employment visa.</span><br/><br/><span>“I came here to pray for my brother’s U.K. visa 10 years ago and for my wife’s U.S. visa two years ago,” he said. “They were both successful. So I have faith."</span><br/><br/><span>The Sri Lakshmi Visa Ganapathy Temple is a few miles north of the airport in Chennai (formerly Madras), a bustling metropolis on the Coromandel Coast in southeast India -- known for its iconic cuisine, ancient temples and churches, silk saris, classical music, dance and sculptures.</span><br/><br/><span>This “visa temple” has surged in popularity among U.S. visa seekers over the past decade; they can be found in almost any Indian city with a U.S. consulate. They typically gain a following through word of mouth or social media.</span><br/><br/><span>A mile away from the Ganesh temple is the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Navaneetha Krishnan Temple, where an idol of Hanuman – a deity who has a human body and the face of a monkey — is believed to possess the power to secure visas. Also known as “Anjaneya,” this god stands for strength, wisdom and devotion. In this temple, he has earned the monikers “America Anjaneya” and “Visa Anjaneya.”</span><br/><br/><span>The temple’s longtime secretary, G.C. Srinivasan, said it wasn’t until 2016 that this temple became a “visa temple.”</span><br/><br/><span>“It was around that time that a few people who prayed for a visa spread the word around that they were successful, and it's continued,” he said.</span><br/><br/><span>A month ago, Srinivasan said he met someone who got news of his visa approval even as as he was circumambulating the Anjaneya idol — a common Hindu practice of walking around a sacred object or site.</span><br/><br/><span>On a recent Saturday night, devotees decorated the idol with garlands made of betel leaves. S. Pradeep, who placed a garland on the deity, said he was not there to pray for a visa, but believes in the god's unique power.</span><br/><br/><span>“He is my favorite god,” he said. “If you genuinely pray – not just for visa – it will come true.”</span><br/><br/><span>At the Ganesh temple, some devotees had success stories to share. Jyothi Bontha said her visa interview at the U.S. Consulate in Chennai went without a hitch, and that she had returned to offer thanks.</span><br/><br/><span>“They barely asked me a couple of questions,” she said. “I was pleasantly surprised.”</span><br/><br/><span>Bontha’s friend, Phani Veeranki, stood nearby, nervously clutching an envelope containing her visa application and supporting documents. Bontha and Veeranki, both computer science students from the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh and childhood friends, are headed to Ohio.</span><br/><br/><span>Both learned about the visa temple on the social media platform Telegram.</span><br/><br/><span>Veeranki said she was anxious because she had a lot riding on her upcoming visa interview.</span><br/><br/><span>“I’m the first person in my family to go the United States,” she said. “My mother is afraid to send me. But I’m excited for the opportunities I’ll have in America.”</span><br/><br/><span>Veeranki then handed over the envelope to the temple’s priest for him to place at the foot of the idol for a blessing.</span><br/><br/><span>“We’ve been hearing about applications being rejected,” she said, her hands still folded in prayer. “I’m really hoping mine gets approved.”</span><br/><br/><span>If she and Bontha make it to Ohio, they want to take a trip to Niagara Falls.</span><br/><br/><span>“I’ve always wanted to see it,” Bontha said.</span></p> #US #tech #layoffs: #Indian #…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2022-11-22:1119293:Comment:4146122022-11-22T03:49:11.286ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p><span>#US #tech #layoffs: #Indian #H1B workers face painful exit from the US. Companies have not released India-specific numbers but #SiliconValley-based immigration attorney Swati Khandelwa says "it's hurt the Indian community particularly hard." #Amazon #Meta <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63658535" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63658535</a></span><br></br><br></br><span>Layoffs across the tech industry, including at firms like Twitter, Meta and…</span></p>
<p><span>#US #tech #layoffs: #Indian #H1B workers face painful exit from the US. Companies have not released India-specific numbers but #SiliconValley-based immigration attorney Swati Khandelwa says "it's hurt the Indian community particularly hard." #Amazon #Meta <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63658535" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63658535</a></span><br/><br/><span>Layoffs across the tech industry, including at firms like Twitter, Meta and Amazon, have affected a significant number of Indians working in the US who are on visas like the H-1B. California-based journalist Savita Patel speaks to workers who are facing the prospect of being forced to return to India if they don't find another job.</span><br/><br/><span>Surbhi Gupta, an Indian engineer working in the US since 2009, was surprised that she was laid off by Meta this month. "I was performing well at work," she says.</span><br/><br/><span>On 9 November, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, announced it would cut 13% of its workforce - the first mass lay-offs in the firm's history which resulted in 11,000 employees losing their jobs.</span><br/><br/><span>"None of us slept that night," Ms Gupta says. "At 6am, I got the email. I couldn't access my computer, nor the office gym. It felt like a break-up."</span><br/><br/><span>Ms Gupta is likely to be a familiar face for Indians. Winner of the 2018 Miss Bharat-California contest, she was featured most recently in the Netflix show Indian Matchmaking.</span><br/><br/><span>Now she is among thousands of educated and skilled immigrant workers fired by US tech companies this month.</span><br/><br/><span>Most of them work in the US because of the HI-B visa. It's a non-immigrant visa that allows firms to employ foreigners for up to six years in positions for which they have been unable to find American employees.</span><br/><br/><span>It also allows holders to apply for permanent residency in the US and buy property in the country.</span><br/><br/><span>Ms Gupta says she worked very hard to build a life in the US for "over 15 years".</span><br/><br/><span>Her visa now hinges on finding her next job.</span><br/><br/><span>Worldwide, more than 120,000 tech workers have lost jobs as a result of cutbacks by US tech companies, according to the Layoffs.fyi website, which tracks tech job cuts.</span><br/><br/><span>While companies have not released India-specific numbers, San Jose-based immigration attorney Swati Khandelwa says "it's hurt the Indian community particularly hard."</span><br/><br/><span>"We saw an uptick in calls for consultation," she says. "Everybody is anxious, even those who have not been laid off fear that they might be [fired] later."</span><br/><br/><span>For Indian tech workers, the layoffs do not just mean seeking new employment but also finding employers who are willing help them continue with their work and pay for the associated legal costs.</span><br/><br/><span>"If a new employer is unable to transfer your visa petition in 60 days, the remedy is for people to leave [the US] and re-enter for work after the paperwork is complete," Ms Khandelwal says.</span><br/><br/><span>"But the practical aspect is that people will get stuck in India as there are not many visa stamping appointments available in consulates," she says.</span><br/><br/><span>Wait times for a visa appointment at US consulates in India have reached 800 days in some cases.</span><br/><br/><span>This is why the layoffs have come as an unwelcome surprise for Indian workers.</span><br/><br/><span>Sowmya Iyer, a lead product designer at the ride-sharing app Lyft, says she was part of a team that "had internally taken steps to maintain the fiscal health of the company".</span><br/><br/><span>But Ms Iyer found herself among hundreds who were laid off at the company this month. "We had not expected it to hit us," she says.</span><br/><br/><span>The mass layoffs feel like a "tech pandemic," she explains. "Both my friend and his wife lost their jobs on the same day. Everyone is in the same boat - reaching out, exchanging condolences."</span></p> Layoffs in the Silicon Valley…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2022-11-20:1119293:Comment:4143962022-11-20T00:19:35.927ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p><span>Layoffs in the Silicon Valley are proving to be exceptionally problematic for Indian Techies. Most them were working on H-1B visas & now have just a 60-day grace period to find another job.…</span><br></br><br></br></p>
<p><span>Layoffs in the Silicon Valley are proving to be exceptionally problematic for Indian Techies. Most them were working on H-1B visas & now have just a 60-day grace period to find another job.</span><br/><br/><span><a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-the-impact-of-silicon-valley-layoffs-on-indian-techies-534175" target="_blank">https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-the-impact-of-silicon-valley-layoffs-on-indian-techies-534175</a></span><br/><br/><span>------------------</span><br/><br/><span>Layoffs at Amazon: Many Indians impacted, have limited time to find a new job</span><br/><span>Amazon is said to cut nearly 10,000 jobs globally this week. While the tech company hasn’t revealed any information about layoffs yet, impacted employees have taken to social media platforms like LinkedIn to share their distress.</span><br/><br/><span><a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/technology/news/story/layoffs-at-amazon-many-indians-impacted-have-limited-time-to-find-a-new-job-2297970-2022-11-16" target="_blank">https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/technology/news/story/layoffs-at-amazon-many-indians-impacted-have-limited-time-to-find-a-new-job-2297970-2022-11-16</a></span></p> #Indians bag over 300,000 #H1…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2022-04-15:1119293:Comment:4073512022-04-15T00:17:55.862ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p>#Indians bag over 300,000 #H1B #visas, 74% of total approved for the world in 2021. #tech #India #US <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/indians-bagged-3-01-lakh-h-1b-visas-during-fiscal-2021-74-of-the-total/articleshow/90845244.cms" target="_blank">https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/indians-bagged-3-01-lakh-h-1b-visas-during-fiscal-2021-74-of-the-total/articleshow/90845244.cms</a></p>
<p>#Indians bag over 300,000 #H1B #visas, 74% of total approved for the world in 2021. #tech #India #US <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/indians-bagged-3-01-lakh-h-1b-visas-during-fiscal-2021-74-of-the-total/articleshow/90845244.cms" target="_blank">https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/indians-bagged-3-01-lakh-h-1b-visas-during-fiscal-2021-74-of-the-total/articleshow/90845244.cms</a></p> #Trump Admin tells #India it…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2019-06-20:1119293:Comment:1253222019-06-20T03:23:52.766ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p><span>#Trump Admin tells #India it is considering caps on #H1B #visas to #Indians at between 10% and 15% of the annual quota. There is no current country-specific limit on the 85,000 H-1B work visas granted each year, and an estimated 70% go to Indians. <a href="https://reut.rs/2x5EdxO" target="_blank">https://reut.rs/2x5EdxO</a></span><br></br><br></br><br></br><span>The plan to restrict the popular H-1B visa program, under which skilled foreign workers are brought to the United States each year, comes…</span></p>
<p><span>#Trump Admin tells #India it is considering caps on #H1B #visas to #Indians at between 10% and 15% of the annual quota. There is no current country-specific limit on the 85,000 H-1B work visas granted each year, and an estimated 70% go to Indians. <a href="https://reut.rs/2x5EdxO" target="_blank">https://reut.rs/2x5EdxO</a></span><br/><br/><br/><span>The plan to restrict the popular H-1B visa program, under which skilled foreign workers are brought to the United States each year, comes days ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to New Delhi.</span><br/><br/><span>India, which has upset companies such as Mastercard and irked the U.S. government with stringent new rules on data storage, is the largest recipient of these temporary visas, most of them to workers at big Indian technology firms.</span><br/><br/><span>The warning comes as trade tensions between the United States and India have resulted in tit-for-tat tariff actions in recent weeks. From Sunday, India imposed higher tariffs on some U.S. goods, days after Washington withdrew a key trade privilege for New Delhi.</span><br/><br/><span>Two senior Indian government officials said on Wednesday they were briefed last week on a U.S. government plan to cap H-1B visas issued each year to Indians at between 10% and 15% of the annual quota. There is no current country-specific limit on the 85,000 H-1B work visas granted each year, and an estimated 70% go to Indians.</span><br/><br/><span>Both officials said they were told the plan was linked to the global push for “data localization”, in which a country places restrictions on data as a way to gain better control over it and potentially curb the power of international companies. U.S. firms have lobbied hard against data localization rules around the world.</span><br/><br/><span>A Washington-based industry source aware of India-U.S. negotiations also said the United States was deliberating capping the number of H-1B visas in response to global data storage rules. The move, however, was not solely targeted at India, the source said.</span><br/><br/><span>“The proposal is that any country that does data localization, then it (H-1B visas) would be limited to about 15% of the quota. It’s being discussed internally in the U.S. government,” the person said.</span><br/><br/><span>-------------------</span><br/><br/><span>Most affected by any such caps would be India’s more than $150 billion IT sector, including Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Ltd, which uses H-1B visas to fly engineers and developers to service clients in the United States, its biggest market. Major Silicon Valley tech companies also hire workers using the visas.</span><br/><br/><span>Stratfor analyst Reva Goujon on Twitter called the move “potentially another big blow to the U.S. #tech industry amid US-#China economic battle,” a sentiment echoed on social media by some Indians and their supporters.</span><br/><br/><span>India’s Ministry of External Affairs has sought an “urgent response” from officials on how such a move by the United States could affect India, said one of the two government officials, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.</span><br/><br/><span>India’s Ministry of External Affairs, as well as the commerce department that is typically involved in such discussions, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.</span><br/><br/><span>Since last year, the Trump administration has been upset that U.S. companies such as Mastercard and Visa suffer due to regulations in several countries that it says are protectionist and increasingly require companies to store more data locally.</span><br/><br/><span>India last year mandated foreign firms to store their payments data “only in India” for supervision, and New Delhi is working on a broad data protection law that would impose strict rules for local processing of data it considers sensitive.</span><br/><br/><span>-----------------</span></p> Bengaluru pays the highest sa…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2018-11-22:1119293:Comment:1223542018-11-22T15:50:47.311ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p>Bengaluru pays the highest salaries in India: Study</p>
<p><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/hardware-software-jobs-pay-the-highest-in-india/articleshow/66744465.cms" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/hardwar...</a></p>
<p>Hardware & networking jobs fetch about Rs 15 lakh per annum ($21,500) .. software jobs fetch about Rs 12 lakh ($16,900) , and consumer jobs Rs 9 lakh ($12,700). </p>
<p>(One…</p>
<p>Bengaluru pays the highest salaries in India: Study</p>
<p><a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/hardware-software-jobs-pay-the-highest-in-india/articleshow/66744465.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/hardwar...</a></p>
<p>Hardware & networking jobs fetch about Rs 15 lakh per annum ($21,500) .. software jobs fetch about Rs 12 lakh ($16,900) , and consumer jobs Rs 9 lakh ($12,700). </p>
<p>(One US $ is worth 71 Indian rupees)</p> #US tightens #H1B #visa rules…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2018-02-24:1119293:Comment:1200362018-02-24T00:48:13.055ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p><span>#US tightens #H1B #visa rules, #Indians to be hit hardest. #India #Modi #Technology <a href="http://toi.in/qqEbWa/a24gk" target="_blank">http://toi.in/qqEbWa/a24gk</a> via @timesofindia</span><br></br><br></br><br></br><span>The Trump administration has just made it more difficult for companies and individuals to get the H-1B work visa. And even if one gets it, it may not be for a full three years, as is the practice now.</span><br></br><span>Indians and Indian IT companies will feel the impact the…</span></p>
<p><span>#US tightens #H1B #visa rules, #Indians to be hit hardest. #India #Modi #Technology <a href="http://toi.in/qqEbWa/a24gk" target="_blank">http://toi.in/qqEbWa/a24gk</a> via @timesofindia</span><br/><br/><br/><span>The Trump administration has just made it more difficult for companies and individuals to get the H-1B work visa. And even if one gets it, it may not be for a full three years, as is the practice now.</span><br/><span>Indians and Indian IT companies will feel the impact the most because they are the biggest users of this visa. The shorter durations may even make the transition from H-1B to a green card next to impossible.</span><br/><span>A policy memorandum issued by the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) on February 22 said its officers could seek detailed documentation and more evidence from companies to establish that they have specific assignments in a specialty occupation for the H-1B beneficiary. And that they have these assignments for the entire time requested on the petition.</span><br/><span>If the company is able to only demonstrate that the beneficiary will have the specified work for less than three years, then the visa would be granted for that shorter duration.</span><br/><span>Currently, H-1Bs are issued for three years, and, for a long time, they were extended for another three years with few questions asked. Over the past year, the Trump administration has made the process of extension more difficult - compelling Indian IT companies to tell employees on H-1Bs that they may have to return earlier than anticipated. The new rules imply that one may not even get the initial full three years now.</span></p>
<p></p> 125 #IT Jobs Just Moved From…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2017-11-22:1119293:Comment:1180272017-11-22T03:58:00.335ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p><span>125 #IT Jobs Just Moved From #Noida #Delhi #India To #Islamabad, #Pakistan. #Tech</span><br></br><br></br><span><a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/noida-to-islamabad/299532" target="_blank">https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/noida-to-islamabad/299532</a></span><br></br><br></br><span>On the night of November 1, stretching into early next morning, close to half the workforce at the Noida office of a US-based IT service provider was informed that their services were no longer…</span></p>
<p><span>125 #IT Jobs Just Moved From #Noida #Delhi #India To #Islamabad, #Pakistan. #Tech</span><br/><br/><span><a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/noida-to-islamabad/299532" target="_blank">https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/noida-to-islamabad/299532</a></span><br/><br/><span>On the night of November 1, stretching into early next morning, close to half the workforce at the Noida office of a US-based IT service provider was informed that their services were no longer needed. A former employee says salaries for the staff at the Noida office were declared delayed by a day on October 31. The official explanation was that the servers were not working. “They weren’t clear about how many people were going to be laid off,” he says. The next night, they “axed 125 people in half-an-hour.” They all got a severance package—a cheque for October and another two months of salary—and a termination letter. Rumours of layoffs had started doing the rounds four to five months ago. The talk was that the company was opening offices in a neighbouring country.</span><br/><br/><span>Curiously, the day the workforce in Noida was sacked, almost the same number of employees for the same low-level IT-enabled jobs logged into their systems, 676 kilometres away, in Islamabad, Pakistan.</span><br/><span>Job cuts have plagued the Indian IT sector for about two years now and have begun to get pretty serious from the start of this year. “Bloodbath in Bangalore” has been the recurring headline. But the trend of these jobs going to techies in Pakistan is more recent. Away from all the noise of ceasefire violations and surgical strikes, where Pakistan could really hurt India is in taking away low-end IT jobs. The neighbour has a budding IT industry, growing in its own space, looking to emulate the Indian IT success story where right now data operators and BPO callers come much cheaper.</span></p> #India's tech sector downsize…tag:www.pakalumni.com,2017-05-23:1119293:Comment:1141022017-05-23T14:44:47.960ZRiaz Haqhttp://www.pakalumni.com/profile/riazul
<p><span>#India's tech sector downsizes heavily as #Trump’s #H1B temp worker visa policy creates uncertainty</span><br></br><br></br><span><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/23/indian-tech-sector-downsizes-heavily-as-trumps-h-1b-policy-creates-uncertainty.html" target="_blank">http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/23/indian-tech-sector-downsizes-heavily-as-trumps-h-1b-policy-creates-uncertainty.html</a></span><br></br><br></br><span>Technology companies in India are in the midst of a massive restructuring drive that…</span></p>
<p><span>#India's tech sector downsizes heavily as #Trump’s #H1B temp worker visa policy creates uncertainty</span><br/><br/><span><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/23/indian-tech-sector-downsizes-heavily-as-trumps-h-1b-policy-creates-uncertainty.html" target="_blank">http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/23/indian-tech-sector-downsizes-heavily-as-trumps-h-1b-policy-creates-uncertainty.html</a></span><br/><br/><span>Technology companies in India are in the midst of a massive restructuring drive that has both employees and industry analysts worried over the future of the sector.</span><br/><br/><span>Information Technology companies like Infosys, Cognizant and Tech Mahindra have announced redundancies this year and some analysts have said that this string of layoffs are expected to continue for the next two years.</span><br/><br/><span>A recent report from McKinsey India says that at least 200,000 software engineers in India will lose their jobs each year over the next three years.</span><br/><br/><span>According to local media reports, tech giant Infosys had earlier announced its plans to lay off about 1,000 employees at senior levels based on performance-based processes, the company also then announced its plans to hire 10,000 Americans over the next two years – a move many analysts have said will please U.S. President Donald Trump. Following this move, other companies such as Cognizant announced their plans to cut 6,000 jobs.</span><br/><br/><span>"With the majority of their business coming from US-based clients, it seems like a natural step for Indian IT companies to expand and strengthen their client offering in a market that promises sustained growth. This will undoubtedly benefit U.S. workers and sing to the tune of Trump's America First strategy," Af Malhotra, co-founder of Bangalore-based IT firm GrowthEnabler, told CNBC via email.</span><br/><br/><span>U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda and focus on curbing immigration especially around the much-sought-after H-1B visa policy may hurt India's massive information technology sector that forms a strong base for the country's economy.</span><br/><br/><span>Data from Goldman Sachs estimates that Indians accounted for nearly 195,257, or 70.1 percent, of all beneficiaries of the H-1B visa program in 2015. And hence, President Trump's decision to steer his policies towards "America First" is clearly going to hurt these professionals as well as Indian software companies. But there are divergent views on whether the redundancies in India by major IT companies have anything to do with Trump's policies.</span><br/><br/><span>"It does not seem like Indian companies are laying off in India so they can hire in the US," an IT-professional based in the U.S. told CNBC on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic. "The IT sector has been struggling, these companies have been having poor disappointing earnings/lower guidance for a few quarters now and that is probably the primary driver."</span></p>