Donald Trump Suspends H1-B Visas For Six Months And That Is More Bad News For Indian IT Sector
The 'American Dream' of many Indians will have to wait at least for six months as US President Donald Trump suspended a range of work visas for foreigners, including all H-1B and H-4 (for H-1B spouses) till December.
Making the announcement, the White House said that Trump wants to reform the immigration system to a "merit-based" one.
Briefing reporters about the reform plan, a senior official said that one of its features would ban companies from bringing in employees on H-1B visas and outplace them to work in other US companies.
It however made it clear that the order will not affect those already in the US on the H-1B and the other work visa categories being put on pause.
While the suspension is not specific to any particular country, India is going to the worst hit from this move.
Many Indian and some US companies that act as subcontractors sponsoring workers on H-1B visas and deputing them once they are in the US to work elsewhere could see their business model hit.
According to some estimates, over three-to-four lakh H-1B visa workers in the US are employed by Indian IT firms like?Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Cognizant.
Indians are the single largest group of H1-B visa-holders accounting for nearly 74 per cent of the 85,000 annual H-1B visas given from the lottery system.
When Trump imposed a 60-day pause on permanent immigrant visas or green cards on April 22, the H-1B and other temporary work visas escaped the freeze but are now affected.
Trump who is seeking re election later this year desperately needs more US jobs to be created and more Americans at work to improve his chances.
But the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown meant that a record number of Americans are now unemployed.
With the freeze on new work visas, which is being described as part of an ‘America-first recovery' effort, would free up 5,25,000 jobs in the US for American workers.?
Expressing disappointment over the decision, Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said the H-1B programme in particular plays a crucial role in addressing the dangerous shortage of health care professionals while also providing other key sectors of our economy with talent from around the world to not only fill jobs, but create new ones.?
“Suspending this programme will only weaken our economy and our health care workforce at a time when the need to strengthen both is as clear as ever,” Krishnamoorthi said.
