India, Jan. 29 -- The H-1B visa programme has been instrumental in driving the growth of America's tech industry over the past four decades. Through the years, millions of tech workers have come to the United States (US), contributed to the industry's growth and benefited themselves. Among those who leveraged an H-1B visa as a pathway to success in the US are Elon Musk, the world's richest man, and Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai, the CEOs of Microsoft and Alphabet (the holding company for Google), respectively.

Since Donald Trump's victory in the November presidential elections, an intense debate has emerged over the future of the H-1B programme. The debate was triggered by social media postings in late December by Musk and Vivek Ramasw...