1 lakh jobs to take the hit of H1B visa rule change

New Delhi : Spouses of H1B Visa holders working in the US will lose their jobs if President Donald Trump's decision to ban them is implemented in the country.

A new research report says around one lakh people will lose their jobs and this will negatively affect not only the visa holders but also their employers.

The move has been announced to encourage hiring of American citizens.

The US government started allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in 2015 when Barack Obama was president. For their research, authors contacted 1,800 Indian families and out of these 416 agreed to be part of the study.

It is also likely that it would make the visa holders dissatisfied with their jobs and increase the risk that they might quit and return to their home country. The cost of failed expatriate assignments is in the range of $250,000 to $ 1 million. There are also indirect costs, says the report.

This hasn't gone down well with technology companies, including Google and Amazon, who have argued that this move will hurt the spouses, a majority of whom are women, and the holders of the visa.

The visa holders say they face a lot of problems if their spouses weren't able to work. "It is very unfair to her, so we are returning to India," one respondent told the researchers. "My wife is frustrated that she can't further her career in the states," said another.