Reeling under a double whammy

Many software employees stuck in India have been shifted to Indian payroll pushing them into a financial crisis

Lakshman Chowdary Daddala, a systems analyst at a software company in North Carolina (USA), would not have imagined of having to face an unexpected hardship like this. He had reached his native place Pakala near Tirupati for his wedding on March 1 and was scheduled to leave for the U.S.A. by April 3, when the lockdown announcement came as a bolt from the blue. Since then, he had been working from his home, eagerly waiting for an improvement in the COVID-19 situation and resumption of flights. Another bolt struck in the form of the Donald Trump administration’s decision to ban travel visas.

There are several others like Lakshman who are stuck in the home country. Though some are allowed Work From Home (WFH) from their Indian location, the companies have shifted them from the U.S. payroll to the Indian payroll, which heavily impacted their pay structure. "We have huge commitments in the U.S. in the form of rental agreement, car loan and insurance premiums, which we are unable to meet from our Indian pay," says D. Varun, a techie now working from India.

Families at risk

There is a weird angle to this crisis, wherein some H1-B visa holders have reached India on a vacation, leaving their dependent spouse and children back in the U.S. In the event of the employee not going there on time due to the travel restrictions, the dependant faces the risk of being branded as staying illegally.