The Indian IT industry will have to seek newer ways to earn a living as governments in major markets like the US, the UK and Singapore place a huge number of restrictions on immigration for working of engineers that are disturbing the outsourcing model which has shown enormous growth in the past two decades.

The tough rules applied by these countries aimed at both throttling the inflow of engineers and rooting out visa malpractices in client locations will trigger a remodel of strategy by outsourcing companies — both local and global — according to industry observers who expect an expansion of Indian operations and more hostile hiring overseas as the $150-billion industry also battles oppositely from the rising automation of technology services.

One of the head at a leading consultancy firm said "I think large companies will be a little more sensitive about using H-1B employees politically. They would not want to be seen as going around the administration"

However, many analytics say that this is only a clarification to the current rule but not an amendment. This can make the present rule more strictly followed but, will not much harm the IT industry Programmers.

This aligns with the administration's focus on reserving the temporary visas for very high-skilled and higher-paid professionals while encouraging low and mid-level jobs to offer to local American workers instead. The new guidance affects applications for the lottery for 2018 fiscal year that opened Monday.

What comes next: Companies applying for H-1B visas for computer programming positions will have to submit additional evidence documents that shows the jobs are complex or specialized and require professional degrees. Entry-level wages attached to these visa applications will also get more scrutinized. The change appears to target outsourcing companies, who typically employ lower-paid and lower-level computer workers.                                          

Lawsuits possible: Releasing this policy change at the start of the application filing window is going to resent companies who used 17 years old policy guidance to apply for this year's visas. Some companies may challenge the guidance on the grounds that USCIS didn't provide sufficient notice of the change.

In fiscal 2017, TCS operated under a self-imposed visa constraint and applied for just 15% of the visas for which it generally applies. Indian companies could also look to revise their costing rates for the clients next year, to factor in visa restrictions.

You may also like: Google Gives Indians 10Gb data per month