Bengal less affected by temporary ban on H1-B visas

West Bengal Information Technology Minister Bratya Basu on Thursday claimed that the temporary suspension of premium H1-B visa processing by the US administration would have a lesser impact on his state compared to other Indian states.

"I think West Bengal would have far lesser impact after the H1-B visa ban compared to some other Indian states which have a larger number of IT professionals working in the United States under various organisations," Basu said at an event on information technology in the city.

Stating that the state government does not have much knowledge about the Trump administration's executive order on banning the visa, the minister said it would stand by its people who are working abroad.

"The state government cannot do much about the foreign immigration rules. However the state administration, would do the needful for our people working abroad in various IT companies," he said.

Basu also said they haven't received any information about lay-offs in the IT giants operating in the state after the visa ban decision in April.

"We haven't received any lay off information from Cognizant or other big IT firms operating in the state," he added.

--IANS

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