The united states has told india it is considering caps on H-1B work visas for nations that force foreign companies to store data locally, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, widening the two countries' row over tariffs and trade. 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 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to New delhi.
india, which has upset firms such as Master card
and irked the US 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. 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 US goods, days after
Washington withdrew a key trade privilege for New delhi.
Two senior Indian government officials said on
Wednesday they were briefed last week on a US government plan to cap H-1B Visas issued each year to Indians at
between 10% and 15% of the annual quota.
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