Driving home the point that he is for creating jobs in the US, Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama has favoured streamlining the process for the high-skilled H2B visas for Indians and other foreigners to make sure that employers were not "gaming" the system.
In a statement, USCIS said about 25,000 of the Congressional mandated 66,000 H2B visas are still left to be filled out for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009. On January 7, 2009 USCIS had announced to have received enough applications to fill Congressional mandated cap of 66,000 H-2B visas.
The United States has proposed changes to the H-2B application process to make it more responsive to urgent work force needs in the country.
Details of massive fraud and abuse of the popular H-2B work visa programme have been made public by a government report, which shows that in one of such cases more than 87 Indian nationals paid at least $20,000 each to enter the US illegally.
Nearly 100 Indian workers, who claim they were lured to move to the US by false promises of permanent jobs, will march up to the White House on Monday morning and return their H2B visas in a symbolic rejection of the guest worker programme used to traffic them to Washington. The workers, who complain they underwent 'slave-like treatment' at a Mississippi shipyard, will also demand a Congressional investigation of their former employer Signal International.
Indians are the main beneficiaries of the H-1B visas, which bring in the best of the talent and brains from across the world. Highly skilled professionals from India walk away with the overwhelming number of H-1B visas - which is Congressional mandated 65,0000 every year and another 20,000 for those who received higher education from the US.
Two US lawmakers have introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that aims at granting an automatic right to H-4 visa holders to work in the country, a move which will benefit the spouses of thousands of foreigners, including Indians, and also address the labour shortage affecting American businesses. H-4 visas are issued to dependent spouses and children who accompany H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, and H-3 visa holders to the United States. Many H-4 visa holders are highly skilled people in their own right and previously had careers of their own or worked to support their families.
The Biden administration has proposed a massive hike in immigration fees, including the much sought-after H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers, which is very popular among Indian tech professionals. Under the proposed rule, published by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Wednesday, the application for the H-1B visa increases from $460 to $780, and L-1 from $460 to $1,385. The application fee for O-1 visas has been proposed to increase from $460 to $1,055.
Economic experts fear massive layoffs in various sectors of the American economy due to the current economic distress that is only going to deteriorate in the coming months. A record 3.3 million Americans have filed initial jobless claims for the week ending March 21. Even as the peak of coronavirus in the US is two weeks away, millions of people in the country have lost their jobs.
The move may result in a short-term cost impact for IT Indian companies, according to experts, despite the firms ramping up their local hiring and offshoring projects elsewhere to overcome visa-related issues.
The proclamation that comes into effect on June 24, is expected to impact a large number of Indian IT professionals and several American and Indian companies who were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021 beginning October 1.
US President Donald Trump is considering suspending a number of employment visas including the H-1B, most sought-after among Indian IT professionals, in view of the massive unemployment in America due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a media report. The proposed suspension could extend into the government's new fiscal year beginning October 1, when many new visas are issued, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, quoting unnamed administration officials.
In a major relief to thousands of Indian IT professionals, a federal judge in the US on Thursday blocked the enforcement of a temporary visa ban by the Trump administration on a large number of work permits, including the most sought after H-1B visas, ruling that the president exceeded his constitutional authority.
Indian workers protesting against 'slave-like treatment' at a Mississippi shipyard met Indian envoy Ronen Sen and demanded a CBI probe. They also claimed that recruiters were indulging in alleged human trafficking and abusing workers, under H2B visa programme. Sen said the workers cannot breach established diplomatic protocol by directly interceding with such agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Immigration and Customs Services or the Department of Justice.
Accusing the Indian government of 'abandoning' them to their fate, Indian dock workers from Mississippi who claim to be victims of modern day slavery have now sought the help of the United Nations. Saket Soni, who led the Indians, said Deputy Director of New York office of High Commissioner for Human Rights Craig G Mokhiber had agreed that their alleged ill-treatment constituted violation of international and humanitarian laws. 17 workers met the UN official in New York.
Nearly 65 Indian workers, who claim they were lured to move to the US by false promises of permanent jobs, have protested before the White House against the 'abuses' in the H2B visa system, which was used to traffic them in the US. Towards the end of their protest, the workers ripped up the enlarged photo copied page of their passport in which their visas had been stamped. The workers are demanding Congressional investigation of their former employer -- Signal International.
They are the subject of a battle between immigrant rights advocates and Signal International, a marine and fabrication company.
The lawsuit seeks to overturn these sweeping and unlawful immigration restrictions that are an unequivocal not welcome sign to the engineers, executives, IT experts, doctors, nurses, and other critical workers who help drive the American economy.
The guidance is certain to cause severe anxiety and uncertainty for the hundreds of thousands of international students who are studying in the country and for those who were preparing to arrive in the US to begin their education when the new academic session begins in September.
Signal International, its network of recruiters and labour brokers are being sued for trafficking 500 Indian guest workers to the United States and forcing them to work under barbaric conditions. George Joseph reports for Rediff.com from New York
In less than a week of Donald Trump being sworn in as the 45th US President, the "H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act" was introduced to prioritise American workers and restore fairness in visa programmes for skilled workers.
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Victims decry Ministry of External Affairs' 'vengeful' decision to stop them from leaving the country if they have a 'T' visa (Trafficking category) affixed on their passports. George Joseph/Rediff.com reports
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