H-1B visa workers, Indian IT companies welcome to relocate to Mexico: Ambassador Melba Pria

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Mexico’s Ambassador to India Melba Pria has reached out to Indian workers on an H-1B visa and Indian IT service companies to relocate to Mexico, if the Trump administration or the US Congress cracks down on legal immigration.

Mexico will be “more than happy to have Indians relocate to Mexico”, Pria said in an interview to The Indian Express, in New Delhi, specifically mentioning H-1B visa workers, and how Indian IT companies would be able to service their US clients as they would be working in the same time zone.

Talking of the proposed border wall between Mexico and the US ordered by President Donald Trump, Pria said “borders are a living, ever-changing phenomena: they obey their own cause-and-effect migration dynamics, which are unlikely to be changed by artificial actions. To overcome the problem of illegal immigration, it is necessary to address the causes and work on achieving prosperity for the entire continent.”

Pria sounded upbeat on increasing India-Mexico ties when she said that the current situation (under Donald Trump) has made it even clearer that “it is time to diversify our trade relations, and we are focused on seizing that momentum for more Mexican companies to turn their attention to India. Businesses have this way of advancing by themselves: increasing our trade and investment relations makes human exchanges automatically follow.”

She added: “If the US does enforce some of its harsher immigration proposals, for instance, regarding H-1B visas on which Indian IT companies are heavily dependent, we will be more than happy to have Indians relocate to Mexico. They will find that in Mexico, they are able to continue caring for the American market within the same time zone, at lower costs, with visa ease for their foreign talent and access to a pool of local skilled labor.”

Guadalajara, Mexico’s Silicon Valley, is a technology hub with at least 10 major Indian IT companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, Mahindra, NIIT having set up office there.

Last year, Pria, in an interview to The Dollar Business, had talked about the need to increase bilateral trade relations, which was below potential.

In 2014, India was the 8th largest importer and 14th largest exporter for Mexico. Apart from Indian IT companies, pharmaceutical majors like Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy’s, Ranbaxy, Wockhardt and auto component manufacturers like RSB Transmission, PMP Auto, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., have invested in facilities and plants in Mexico and are taking advantage of the country’s strategic location, large market and investment friendly policies.

Pria had also said that Mexico “strongly support ‘Make in India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Start up India’, and other policies initiated by the Narendra Modi government.

“We see the interest of many Mexican companies in sectors like food processing, IT & telecom, auto components, infrastructure (affordable housing) and others in the framework of the Make in India program,” said Pria.