US may ease visa for skilled workers as PM Modi visits, Indians to benefit: Report
By Team Newsable | First Published Jun 22, 2023, 9:06 AM ISTPM Modi's US visit: The State Department is expected to announce as soon as Thursday that a small number of Indians and other foreign workers on H-1B visas will be able to renew the visas without travelling abroad, as part of a pilot programme.
The Joe Biden administration is anticipated to make it simpler for Indians to live and work in the United States at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on an official visit to the country. The US State Department is anticipated to announce that a small number of Indians and other foreign employees on H-1B visas would be able to renew such visas in the US without travelling outside.
Reports suggest that the State Department may announce as soon as Thursday that a select group of Indians and other foreign employees on H-1B visas would be able to renew their visas domestically in the US as part of a trial programme that may be expanded in the next years.
Latest Videos
Indian nationals accounted up 73% of the almost 442,000 H-1B employees in fiscal year 2022, making them by far the most frequent users of the US H-1B programme.
Companies looking for skilled foreign labour are given access to 65,000 H-1B visas each year by the US government, plus an extra 20,000 visas for employees with advanced degrees. The three-year visas can be extended for an additional three years.
According to US government data, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services in India, as well as Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta in the US, have employed the most H-1B employees in recent years.
According to the spokesman, allowing some of the temporary foreign workers to renew their visas in the United States would free up staff time for visa interviews at consulates abroad.
The pilot program would also include some workers with L-1 visas, which are available to people transferring within a company to a position in the U.S. India has long been troubled by the challenges its nationals, notably those employed in the technology sector, have in obtaining visas to reside in the United States. At the end of April, the Labour Department estimated that there were more than 10 million unfilled positions in the country.
Some H-1B visa holders in the U.S. have been among the thousands of tech workers laid off this year, sending them scrambling to find new employers within a 60-day "grace period" or return to their home country. U.S. visa services are still attempting to clear a backlog after Washington halted almost all visa processing worldwide in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
subscribe to Asianet Newsable WhatsApp channel by clicking here. For more reliable and latest news
subscribe to Asianet Newsable Telegram channel by clicking here.