Job visas only for highly skilled foreigners: Govt

In an attempt to prevent foreigners filling non-technical jobs, India has made it clear that they would be taken in only for highly-skilled work and provided they draw a salary of not less than $25,000 a year.

In an order, the Home Ministry nullified a Labour Ministry circular that capped foreign workforce to 1 per cent of the total strength in any project, with a minimum of five and maximum of 20 people.

The nullification of restriction on numbers would help power and steel projects in particular.

"An employment visa is granted to a foreigner if the applicant is a highly skilled and/or qualified professional, who is being engaged or appointed by a company/organisation/ industry/undertaking in India on contract or employment basis," according to the Home Ministry guidelines.

Besides, the ministry made it clear that employment visa shall not be granted for jobs for which qualified Indians are available and also for routine, ordinary or secretarial/ clerical jobs.

"The foreign national being sponsored for an employment visa in any sector should draw a salary in excess of $25,000 per annum," it says.

However, this condition of annual floor limit on income will not apply to ethnic cooks, language teachers (other than English), staff working for the Embassy/High Commission concerned in India.

The Labour Ministry had ordered that visa applications could be cleared by the Indian missions abroad at their level if the foreign national is skilled and qualified professional, technical experts, senior executives or in managerial positions and those kinds of skills which are not available in India.