Both India, US profited from H-1B visa program, says study

A new study of the Center for Global Development revealed that between the early 1990s and 2010, both the United States and India gained from the H-1B visa program. Beginning from the mid-2000s, more than 50 percent of H-1B visas were bagged by applicants from India. According to the study, the state of affairs of American workers in all sectors improved on an average by around $431 million in 2010 if the tech sector’s increased productivity and innovation were taken into consideration because of foreign workers’ contributions. Gaurav Khanna, an assistant professor of economics at the University of California-San Diego, was quoted by Fortune as saying that it works out to $1,345 per each extra H-1B worker. Co-author of the paper along with Nicolas Morales, Khanna, said that many of these gains were due to the fact that a lot of innovation happening in the economy is mainly in the tech sector. He added that this, in turn, led to the increased productivity of other components of the economy too. Citing the example of Wall Street bankers, he said that they may not be aware that their software is of high-class as the US has the capability of attracting talent from the across the globe and producing better IT products. Khanna is of the view that the information technology was the largest contributor to productivity growth in the US in the past 15 years. He feels that the IT sector cannot be delinked with the H-1B visa program and India. The study further adds that the combined incomes of the US and India grew by 0.36 percent owing to this work visa program in these 15 years, though it benefited India’s IT sector more. Khanna maintains that the advantages of importing foreign workers to the US are extensive. The paper also discovered that as more overseas workers are recruited, many Americans employed as computer scientists could take over managerial roles or other such positions. If you are looking to migrate to the US, get in touch with Y-Axis, a company of repute for immigration services, to apply for a visa.