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Non-techie jobs to be reserved for Indians

The Union home ministry has issued guidelines stating that non- technical jobs would be reserved only for Indians. This step is expected to keep the foreigners away from local jobs here.

A labour ministry circular was nullified by an order of the home ministry, which had given the permission to one per cent foreigners among the total workforce to work in any project with a minimum of five and maximum of 20 people.

According to the guidelines given by the home ministry, “An employment visa is granted to a foreigner if the applicant is a highly skilled and/ or qualified professional, who is being engaged or appointed by a company/organisation /industry/ undertaking in India on contract or employment basis”.

Apart from this it is stated that foreigners would not be able to get employment visa if qualified Indians are available. This also stands true in case of even ordinary jobs like secretarial/clerical jobs.

Further it has been said that the foreign national who has been sponsored for an employment visa should be getting a salary in excess of $25,000 per year.

Opposing the move a Delhi based human resources and performance support consultancy firm said that such things can work against ideals of globalization. It said that we were doing the same things as the American government which had imposed restrictions on the BPOs here.

The floor limit on earnings would not apply to ethnic cooks, language teachers (other than English) and staff working for embassies/high commissions in India.

Skilled and qualified professionals would be able to clear their visa applications by the Indian missions. Moreover managerial and technical experts would also be given visas in case such personnel are unavailable here.

The move proves that India is becoming a destination for both skilled and unskilled manpower from across the growth. All this has been made possible due to the increasing growth rate of the economy. This move is being regarded as a protective approach to growing labour movement towards India

The move is in line with international practices since U.S also gives visas only to the skilled professionals from abroad. Singapore never grants visas for unskilled workers. So the guidelines are a welcome step from the Indian perspective.

Source: Mail Today