Blog Post 05.07.18
Alert
Alert
06.25.20
On June 22, 2020 the White House issued an Executive Order suspending various work visas. The Order suspends new H-1B, L-1 and other temporary work visas through the end of the year, but the suspension “may be continued as necessary.” The Order also extended until the end of the year the visa restrictions implemented in April of this year, which suspended the issuance of green cards for 60 days.
What does this mean for current service delivery?
According to data published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, IT service providers such as Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Accenture have consistently been the most frequent employers of H-1B visa holders. Service providers rely on these work visas to hire highly skilled professionals to fill key roles in their organizations and maximize the value provided to their customers. The suspension of such work visas directly impacts service providers’ ability to bring on such talent to leverage when providing services to customers. Key resources currently on visas that expire within the year will not be able to renew them, and any ongoing processing of work visas will likely be halted.
What are some proactive steps that customers should take to mitigate effects?
Communication is key to successful service delivery management. Customers should ask their service providers whether they anticipate any disruptions due to suspended work visas, and confirm that customers will not be charged increased amounts for any steps required to mitigate such disruptions, including the replacement of such resources with U.S.-based personnel that are not subject to visa requirements.
For existing contracts, customers should determine the extent to which critical resources will be impacted by the Order. Specifically, service providers should identify which resources are on visas and the expiration dates for those visas, and they should provide a plan to ensure business continuity if those resources are no longer able to continue to provide the services from a location within the United States. Further, customers should understand how service providers intend to address any affected critical resources to ensure that service delivery remains unaffected. These considerations include knowledge transfer requirements and timelines. Customers might also consider negotiating the right to hire resources in lieu of affected personnel, and asking service providers to waive any non-solicitation provisions that might otherwise restrict such hiring rights. Relatedly, customers should make sure to check current contracts for non-solicitation provisions before contacting any potential hires. In the long term, those customers with foreign affiliates may consider whether it is a prudent path forward to ramp up those organizations to avoid some of this issues.
While many service providers will have to adapt to these new restrictions, some analysts predict that Tier 1 IT service providers might not face much of an impact by these visa restrictions. Considering many service providers have implemented extensive remote work arrangements in light of the pandemic, the reliance on work visas might be decreased by hiring more people locally. One analyst noted, “Companies have managed to conduct project initiation and knowledge transfer via [remote arrangements]. We believe Tier 1 IT companies are in a good position to manage supply constraints due to further restrictions on H-1B visas provided these restrictions are for a brief period.”
While the precise effects of the Order are still unfolding, by implementing the noted suggestions, customers can mitigate uncertainty in service delivery and performance caused by the recent Order.