(Image source from: Axios)

The Trump administration has raised efforts to undermine H-1B programme, creating "an unexpected level of uncertainties" among small and medium-size IT (Information Technology) companies, a large number of which are owned by Indian-Americans, an advocacy group for these firms have said.

The policies being executed by the Trump administration have adversely affected IT businesses, said Gopi Kandukuri, president of the IT Serve Alliance, the largest association of small-medium IT Services organizations in the United States.

"It is impacting people who are in this country on H1B visas. The denial rate of H-1B (currently) is 40 plus percent. As a result, the entire talent is leaving the U.S. This is the biggest problem we (IT firms) are facing. There is a reverse brain drain going on right now," Kandukuri said.

Founded in 2010, IT Serve Alliance has more than 1,000 members, a majority are owned by Indian-Americans, reflecting the dominance of the community in this sector.

"What we have seen since 2010, there’s a consistent and the continuous pattern to basically undermine H-1B programme, especially the consulting companies where we process H-1Bs and get the work done either at our locations or at the client locations. That has essentially got elevated adversely since last year when the current administration came to power," IT Serve Alliance advisor Kishore Khandavalli said.

He alleged federal agencies particularly the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) instead of implementing the rules and regulations are making up own rules and coming up with new ways of implementing the H-1B programme.

-Sowmya Sangam