India's $280-billion IT industry heads into 2026, balancing visa-related headwinds and global trade uncertainty against its biggest-ever push into artificial intelligence and the rapid expansion of global capability centres (GCCs). Heightened scrutiny of the US H-1B visa programme - including a proposed $100,000 fee for new visas and concerns over a potential 25 per cent outsourcing tax - has complicated cross-border delivery for Indian firms, even as companies accelerate efforts to reduce reliance on onsite staffing.
'It is good to have the H1-B visa option but if tomorrow things happen to change, it is not the end of the world situation.'
Gaurav Batra, founder and CEO Infinite Group, suggests smart tips to help you reduce living and transportation costs while studying in the US.
In a much-needed relief for foreign students looking to study in the US, the Biden administration has announced they can now apply for a visa up to a year before their academic term begins.
The US Citizenship Act 2023 introduced by Congresswoman Linda S nchez creates an earned roadmap to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants, providing Dreamers, TPS holders, and some farmworkers with an immediate path to citizenship.
The e-Visa facility is available to visitors from about 44 countries.
Here are list of some of the big ticket announcements.
Abrahams, who chairs a British parliamentary group on Kashmir, was denied entry into India upon her arrival at the New Delhi airport on Monday. Government officials had said on Monday also that she was informed in advance that her e-visa had been cancelled.
Amid mass layoffs in the tech sector, the federal agency for immigration services has said it is wrong to assume that sacked workers holding the much-sought-after H-1B visas have to leave the country within 60 days, asserting they have multiple options to stay in the US. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
International companies usually store data on global servers and the requirement to store data locally would require them to make an additional investment. But policymakers in India believe storing data locally would help monitor and conduct investigations if the need arises.
Even as the H1-B cap for the year was reached for regular and 'advanced degree' students, the Department of Homeland Security announced an extension of the Optional Practical Training period up to 29 months.
Called the US Citizenship Act of 2021, the legislation modernises the immigration system, and also proposes to eliminate the per country cap for employment-based green cards, a move that would benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals whose current wait period for legal permanent residency runs into several decades.
While most universities and colleges are genuine about what they offer, applicants need to verify the claims to check for authenticity and red flags if any, alerts Piyush Kumar, regional director, (South Asia), IDP Education, an overseas education consultancy.
In a major move that will benefit hundreds and thousands of Indian IT professionals in America, the Biden administration has introduced an ambitious immigration bill in Congress which among other things proposes to eliminate the per-country cap for employment-based green cards.
Fifty-nine-year-old Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist who lived in the US as a legal permanent resident and wrote for the Washington Post, was critical of the prince's policies and was killed in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in the Turkish city on October 2, 2018.
Obama used his executive power to announce a series of administrative measures to provide legal status to over five million illegal immigrants in the country, including those from India.
Foreign students knowingly enrolled in the fake school to falsely maintain their student visa status and remain in the US, according to prosecutors.
Biden's authorisation of 5,000 troops in his statement on Saturday included 1,000 who are already on the ground in Afghanistan, according to a defence official. A battalion of 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division were redirected to Kabul, instead of their original standby position in Kuwait.
Do you have an international driver's license?
From the roll-out of GST to H1B visa problems, the government needs to quickly deal with various disruptions.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent address to a joint session of Congress, top Republican senator John McCain had moved an amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act which if passed would have recognised India as a global strategic and defence partner.
Travel companies and agencies are offering early bird discounts going up to 40 per cent. Priyadarshini Maji reports
Canada will supply uranium to energy-starved India beginning this year over a period of five years, a decision which was termed as a launch of a new era of bilateral cooperation and mutual trust by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'If the dimensions of the strategic partnership worked out by India and the US seem like a grand alliance targeted at you-know-who, China had better realise that it has fathered it,' says B S Raghavan, a long time observer of China.
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