Trump’s Crackdown On Work Visas To Benefit Canada’s CGI Against Indian Rivals

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The Trump administration’s changes to the work visa program will boost Canada-based information technology provider CGI Group Inc., according to Bloomberg. CGI is a major U.S. government contractor which was in the news a few years ago for its role in the Obamacare roll-out.

Donald Trump by Gage Skidmore on 2011-02-10 12:47:12

How Trump’s visa policies benefit CGI

CGI, which employs more than 11,000 people south of the border, says in comparison to rivals, it is less exposed to the expected overhaul of the visa program because it has been hiring people locally for years, notes Bloomberg.

During a conference call on Wednesday, CGI CEO George Schindler said, “There’s no expectation of any increased cost there — in fact it’s probably a tailwind. It plays right into our model.”

According to Schindler, more than 97% of the company’s U.S. employees work there without a visa.

He said it is a tailwind for them if the policies of the current administration require more of the work to be done onshore. He said there is no impact on the current employees, and he does not expect the changes to dramatically affect the company’s operations.

“I’m not worried about continuity of current work and it’s not a big driver of future work,” the CEO said.

CGI refused to join other tech companies in censuring the Trump’s controversial ban, notes Metro.

Serge Godin, the founder and chairman of CGI, said, “We don’t do politics.”

Indian companies at a disadvantage

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump suspended visa issuance for seven majority-Muslim countries. His team is also drafting an executive order aimed at overhauling the work visa programs, which tech companies rely on to hire tens of thousands of employees every year. According to CGI, the ban will affect fewer than 10 of its employees working in the U.S.

Indian tech companies Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, and Infosys, France’s Cap Gemini SA, and International Business Machines are the top sponsors, according to Myvisajobs.com, which compiles data on applications for H-1B visas. According to the website, the Montreal-based company, which obtained about 485 visas last year, is far behind in comparison to more than 25,000 visas for Infosys, notes Bloomberg.

On Wednesday, Desjardins Capital Markets analyst Maher Yaghi said he believes CGI’s strong onshore presence in the U.S. should place it in a better position for “new business with the new administration’s drive to push for more work for U.S. citizens and potentially fewer foreign-worker visas.”

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