India Aims to Attract its Top Talent Home from the US – However It Won't Be Easy
Latest policy changes in the US, including a significant hike to H-1B visa fees, have spurred Indian government officials to actively encourage talented expatriates to come back and participate in economic growth.
A high-ranking bureaucrat close to the government recently stated that the leadership is dedicated to bringing back NRIs. Additionally, a different council member noted that American immigration policies have historically favored the host country, and the latest fee increase could potentially help India in wooing skilled workers.
The core point is that now is the time for India to facilitate a talent repatriation and bring back exceptional individuals in technology, healthcare, and other advanced industries who emigrated from the nation over the previous three decades.
Preliminary evidence show that a increasingly hostile visa environment in the US is prompting a few expatriates to evaluate returning. However, experts warn that motivating many individuals to depart US locations for home soil will be difficult.
Nithin Hassan is among the few of Indians who, after a long stint in the America, decided to return and moved to India's Silicon Valley last year.
The decision wasn't easy. He abandoned a million-dollar job at the tech company to enter the uncertain sector of new ventures.
"I've always desired to establish something of my own, but my visa situation in the America hindered that freedom," he stated.
Upon coming back, he has started a couple of start-ups, one being a service called Back to India that supports additional expatriates settled in the United States "navigate the emotional, financial, and career difficulties of coming back."
He added that recent adjustments in United States entry regulations have caused a sharp increase in requests from professionals considering move, and the visa controversy could speed up this trend.
"Numerous workers now realize that a permanent residency may never come, and requests to the platform have surged – roughly tripling following policy updates began. In just the last six months, above a couple of hundred NRIs have contacted us to consider coming back," he said.
Further talent scouts who focus on Indian talent from US universities confirm this change in sentiment.
"The figure of Indian students from Ivy League colleges wanting to return to India following their education has grown by 30% recently," a recruitment CEO explained.
She added that the volatility is also leading senior Indian executives "evaluate their long-term careers in the America."
"While many are still anchored there, we see a significant increase in senior and senior tech leaders evaluating India as a serious choice," she said.
The growing interest could also be aided by a huge boom in Global Capability Centres – also known as remote operations of multinational companies in India – that have opened up viable job prospects for professionals coming back.
These remote centers could act as alternatives for those from the software field in case the America closes its doors, making GCCs "highly desirable to professionals, notably as overseas postings decrease," as per an investment company.
However achieving talent return at scale will demand a focused and serious effort by the government, and that's currently missing, explains a ex- advisor to a previous leader and expert on professional emigration.
"The government will have to reach out and truly select individuals – including elite researchers, professionals, and entrepreneurs – it seeks to repatriate. That needs effort, and it needs to come straight from the top," he stated.
He said that this approach was used by India's first prime minister in the earlier days to bring back leading experts in sectors like science and nuclear technology and build centers like the esteemed a top research institute.
"The returnees were inspired by a strong nationalism. Is there the motivation to come back now?" he wondered.
Instead, there are various pull and push elements that have caused skilled workers continuously exiting the country, he said, and India has celebrated this trend, instead of reversing it.
The pull factors involve a rising number of countries offering golden visas and permanent status through entry policies.
In fact, while the America tightened its H-1B visa regime, countries {such as
