WASHINGTON (Diya TV) – India’s tech outsourcing giants, unnerved by the proposed visa clampdowns of the Trump administration, are changing their strategies on U.S. work visas before new policies can be implemented.

While the White House has drafted a sweeping executive order that proposes changes to the administration of the H-1B visa program, none have been signed by President Trump. But the new round of applications for H-1B visas is scheduled to begin next month, and companies are preparing to face tougher new rules and regulations to obtain one of the 85,000 visas.

“The key thing is that we will stop applying for H1B visas for employees with lower levels of experience,” Krishnakumar Natarajan, executive chairman of IT services company Mindtree Ltd., told Bloomberg News. “Additionally, we will reduce the numbers of visa applications as a whole and I expect overall industry numbers to fall.”

India are by far the largest benefactor of the H-1B program, largely responsible for fueling India’s $110-billion IT services export industry. Many international clients choose Indian services to assist them (though many are also considering options like Lan Wan it services that are closer to home these days), making it a global industry. Now these companies are being forced to change their strategy even as they aggressively ramp up operations and set up development centers.”We are going local and building recruitment to reduce dependencies on H1B visas,” said Bangalore-based Natarajan, a former chairman of industry body Nasscom.

India’s top IT outsourcing companies account for 90 percent of H-1B visas Indian outsourcers receive, and are carefully matching skill requirements to applications, said Shivendra Singh, vice president and head of global trade development at Nasscom. “IT services providers are doing skillset mapping,” said Singh, providing further indication that the visa applications will be much more targeted.

Singh added that Indian outsourcing companies operate in more than 80 countries, and have also provided services in the U.S. for decades. “We are fine with any moves to adjudicate and investigate H1B visas as long as there is no undue harassment of Indian companies over others doing the same thing,” he said.