Singapore Does A US; Tightens Visa Procedure For Indian Techies

Following closely on the footsteps of Uncle Sam, Singapore has advised companies to hire more local talent rather than getting Indians to work there. This has prompted the Indian government to put the review of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) on hold citing violation of the trade pact.

While HCL and TCS were among the first to move to Singapore, the country now hosts a variety of others including Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and L&T Infotech. But with the number of visas trickling down to a handful, companies are looking to relocate to other countries in the region.

"This (visa problem) has been lingering for a while but since early-2016, visas are down to a trickle. All Indian companies have received communication on fair consideration, which basically means hiring local people," The Times of India quoted Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar.

In a bid to hamper issuance of visa, the island city-state is said to demanding compliance with certain economic pre-requisites via a test called the economic needs test (ENT) despite the CECA stating that there will be neither ENTs nor quotas on agreed services. In response, the Indian government plans to not expand the scope of goods where import duties would be cut, unless issues concerning domestic industries are addressed.