Germany's stop to work permits to hit Indian IT

Thursday, 06 March 2003, 20:30 IST
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BANGALORE: The German government's decision to stop issuing green cards to IT professionals is expected to hit individuals and new companies seeking to set up shop there more than the big guns of Indian IT. Industry officials see Germany's decision on the temporary work permits, scheduled for implementation from July 31, as a "purely political" one that would have a long-term impact on Indian companies seeking to cater to the European market. "It is bound to impact long term on Indian IT and individual professionals," Lakshman K. Badiga, chief executive, talent transformation and external relations, Wipro Technologies, told IANS. "It is not outsourcing of work that is going to be affected as much as onsite work for companies that plan to go there six months down the line. The impact will not be really felt immediately," added Badiga. Germany had decided to issue 20,000 green cards for IT professionals from August, 2000. Of the 13,500 issued, Indians constituted the single largest group of green card holders with their number crossing the 3,200 mark. But a political campaign during the last election followed by the economic slowdown, leading to a large number of Germans in the sector facing unemployment, has apparently forced Berlin to put software engineers in the general category for issuance of visas and work permits. "Big companies will continue to get papers of their employees processed in a couple of months instead of the 10 days for green cards. The cycle time for processing visas will increase, so will the costs," said an official of another company. "But the issue is really not of processing visas. It is a larger issue of employment for talented Indian IT professionals, particularly those who could not go to the U.S. due to the slowdown." A German green card, valid for five years, is normally issued in 10 days, but visas take anywhere between one to two months, said officials who have frequented Germany, which many see as the second best base after Britain to cater to the IT industry in Europe. "We are solving it by our customers' officials coming here to work offshore. But from the customer's point of view, there are some projects that will need to be done onsite. It is bound to have an impact," said B. Ramaswamy, CEO, Sonata Software. More importantly, "Indian companies wanting to open software development centres there and the few who have already done would naturally face a problem in the future," added Ramaswamy. Indian IT professionals were, initially, reluctant to go to Germany because the U.S. was a more preferred destination given the number of Indian families there. But after some months, German government leaders were pleased that Indians constituted the largest number of green card holders. "Since then, much water has flown down the Rhine," added Ramaswamy.
Source: IANS
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