Visa delays push Indian IT firms to hire US locals

The current timeframe for issuance of B1 and B2 visas exceeds a year in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi

- Devina Sengupta, Varuni Khosla

India’s top IT services firms are reworking their recruitment strategies, emphasising local hires in key markets such as the US, amid mounting frustration due to lengthy wait times for work visas.

“We have been building a talent pool that is distributed, local and diverse and, as such, have reduced our dependencies on H1-B visas," Saurabh Govil, chief human resource officer, Wipro, said in an email response to a question.

For decades, IT companies deployed a significant portion of their workforce overseas while gradually expanding local hiring. However, increasing delays in work visa approvals, sometimes stretching beyond a year or more, have emerged as a key disruptive factor. Consequently, many companies are hiring locally to meet urgent client demands.