In pics: All you need to know about the H1-B visa debate

What is the H1-B visa?

The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.

Executive order by Donald Trump:

The US President Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order aimed at tightening work-visa programmes, including the H1B and L1 visas used by Indian IT professionals, as part of a larger immigration reform effort.

The executive order also increases inspector raj and ends employment authorisation cards to spouses on such work visas, which was recently introduced by the previous Obama Administration.

The bill would require that employers first offer a vacant position to an equally or better qualified American worker before seeking an H-1B or L-1 visa holder.

It would also establish wage requirements for L-1 workers and improve H-1B wage requirements to encourage companies to hire qualified American workers and prevent them from using foreign workers as a source of cheap labour.

Who will be affected?

A large section of the Indian IT professionals may face a setback as India's IT companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro among others are a major beneficiary of these visas. 

Now that the minimum mandated salary under the H1-B programme has been increased to $ 130,000, it becomes expensive to hire Indian workers.

The IT industry derives billions of dollars in export revenue from the US which will be affected under the new H1-B visa programme.