Washington: US President Barack Obama on Monday announced an easing of the process to obtain L-1B work visas for corporate executives, a move that could end the large scale harassment of IT professionals from India and make it easier for Indian companies to bring employees here. Such a move, Obama argued would attract larger foreign direct investment to the US.

"I'm pleased to announce a new action I'm also taking to make it easier for global companies who are present here today to launch and invest in the US. My administration is going to reform the L-1B visa category, which allows corporations to temporarily move workers from a foreign office to a US office in a faster, simpler way. "And this could benefit hundreds of thousands of non-immigrant workers and their employers, that in turn, will benefit our entire economy and spur additional investment," Obama said in his address to the SelectUSA Summit.