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.
Amid a decline in Covid cases in the country, India may soon reopen its doors for foreign tourists for the first time in one-and-a-half years, officials said.
'Trump's disregard for norms and institutions could prove very costly for America's social fabric.'
The State Department has proposed not to issue temporary business visas for H-1B speciality occupations which allowed several companies to send their technology professionals for a short stay to complete jobs on site in the US, a move which could affect hundreds of Indians. The proposal, if finalised, will eliminate any misconception that the "B-1 in lieu of H policy" provides an alternative avenue for foreign professionals to enter the US to perform skilled labour that allows, and potentially even encourages them and their employers to circumvent the restrictions and requirements relating to the H non-immigrant classification established by Congress to protect the US workers, the State Department said.
The US plans to increase its aid workers and embassy staff in Pakistan remains stalled, with Washington expressing concern at the continued delay in issuance and extending of visas for hundreds of its officials. "I think it remains an issue of concern that we are continuing to talk to the government of Pakistan about," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley told reporters at his daily news conference in Washington.
India also accused Canada of allowing "celebration and glorification" of violence, expressing concerns over the security of Indian diplomats in that country, and said it expects Ottawa to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear.
Muhammad Yunus urged the people to "exercise patience" before judging his government's role.
Djokovic practised his serves and returns with his entourage on an empty court at Melbourne Park
A 50-year-old American woman was found tied to a tree with an iron chain in a forest in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district, and a set of documents, including an Aadhaar card with a Tamil Nadu address, were recovered from her possession, a police official said on Monday.
The Foreign Office sources said that adequate security measures will be taken for complete safety of Jadhav's family.
rediffGURU Kanchan Rai urges you to talk about your problems so you can seek solutions and also transform your life.
India should not remain content with merely taking up this issue at the diplomatic level with China. There is a need for concrete action to express our displeasure over the insidious Chinese practice.
Why the proposed United States rule change for H-4 (dependent) visa holders is not enough and what you should do about it
Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a three-day visit to China from this north west city on Thursday, the hometown of Chinese President Xi Jinping with whom he held "very substantive" discussions focussing on strengthening of mutual trust and the boundary issue.
The EB-5 Programme has been in effect since 1990 as an opportunity for the immigrant and their family to obtain permanent residency to the US.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Thursday issued orders restraining commercial transactions routed through intermediaries by a card network. The central bank, without naming the card network, said the intermediary with an arrangement with the network, did not have the authorisation to function under the Payment and Settlement Systems (PSS) Act. This led the regulator to suspend the arrangement till further notice.
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.
With the new government taking charge in Britain, senior officials of India and the UK will hold the next round of talks this month for the proposed free trade agreement to resolve the pending issues and close the negotiations, an official said. The India-UK talks for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) began in January 2022. The 14th round of talks stalled as the two nations stepped into their general election cycles.
Sania took to Twitter to thank everyone for their help.
The US government has removed a regulation proposed by former president Donald Trump's administration that sought to narrow the definition of "specialty occupation" under the H-1B visa regime. The change comes as a relief for Indian information technology firms, which are among the largest users of such visas. "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has formally vacated a regulation that would have redefined the H-1B specialty occupation, restricted off site placement of H-1B employees, and otherwise increased employer compliance obligations. "The vacatur follows a federal court ruling that set aside the regulation because the agency did not have good cause to bypass notice and comment rulemaking, in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act," explained immigration law firm Fragomen.
The UK contributed to nearly $20 billion or 18% of India's $108 billion software exports for 2016.
"Granting a visa to Narendra Modi would be contradictory to international law and would only serve to validate the chief minister's abhorrent policies and actions," Congresswoman Betty McCollum wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
China's wrestlers will not be taking part in the Asian Championships beginning in New Delhi on Tuesday as they have not been granted visas by the government due to the novel coronavirus outbreak there, a top official of the national federation said on Monday. Wrestling Federation of India assistant secretary Vinod Tomar said that the government has denied visas to the 40-strong Chinese contingent.
The President was apparently unaware of the Narendra Modi visa ban controversy till April. Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com has the scoop.
US President Donald Trump has extended the freeze on the most sought-after H-1B visas along with other types of foreign work visas by three months to protect American workers, saying while therapeutics and COVID-19 vaccines are recently available, their effect on the labour market and community health has not yet been fully realised. The decision will 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. The freeze on various categories of work visas was ordered by Trump through two proclamations on April 22 and June 22 last year.
'We can hope to see a lot of creation of jobs in the days to come.'
Four Indian nationals accused of killing Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year in Surrey were ordered by a Canadian court to have no contact with several people in the community, as they made their first joint appearance before it in the case that has severely strained ties between India and Canada.
India asks for consultations on rise in professional visa fee that hurts IT companies' interests
In 2016, there were 580,000 Indians in the US as resident non-immigrant. Of these, 440,000 were temporary workers, which includes those on H-1B visas and 140,000 were students.
It said the actions not only impact India-Canada relations but also encourage a climate of violence and criminality in Canada to the detriment of its own citizens.
Notably, the husband of Dipika Jogi on Monday claimed in Durg that she was held captive by her employer in Oman.
The US has already eased the procedure for issuing visa to attract a million Indian tourists by 2015
Amardeep Singh, 22, a resident of Brampton, Surrey, and Abbotsford areas of Canada, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
It is understood that India's border row with China figured in the talks between Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale though there was no mention of it in the press statements issued by the two sides.
Applicants for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (CAA) can submit any of nine documents, including valid or expired passport, ID cards and land tenancy records, to prove he or she is a national of Afghanistan or Bangladesh or Pakistan.
In a big relief for thousands of stranded Indian professionals in America due to the coronavirus pandemic, the US government has decided to allow applications by H-1B visa holders for an extended stay in the country. The US department of homeland security in a new notification has said it recognises that there are immigration-related challenges as a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms Swaraj was a conscientious woman who understood suffering and pathos and attempted in her inimitable way to mitigate them, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
The 457 visa programme, used by over 95,000 foreign workers, a majority of them Indians, was replaced on March 18 by a new Temporary Skills Shortage visa programme.
The death toll in China's coronavirus rose sharply to 425 with 64 deaths on Monday and the number of those infected with the deadly disease rose to 20,438, Chinese health authorities said on Tuesday.
The Biden administration has announced that it is delaying the H-1B policy of the previous Trump administration on allocation of the popular foreign work visas by continuing with the lottery system until December 31, 2021, to give the immigration agency more time to develop, test and implement the modifications to the registration system. On January 7, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced to do away with the traditional lottery system in deciding the successful applicants for the H-1B visas. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.
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