US President Donald Trump is considering suspending variety of employment visas including the H-1B, most sought-after among Indian IT professionals, in sight of the huge unemployment in America thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, consistent with a media report.
The proposed suspension could extend into the government’s new financial year beginning October 1, when many new visas are issued, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, quoting unnamed administration officials.
That could bar any new H-1B holder outside the country from coming to figure until the suspension is lifted, though visa holders already within the country are unlikely to be affected, the daily reported.
The H1B visa may be a non-immigrant visa that permits US companies to use foreign workers in speciality occupations that need theoretical or technical expertise.
The technology companies depend upon it to rent tens of thousands of employees annually from countries like India and China.
Such a choice by the Trump administration is probably going to possess an adverse impact on thousands of Indian IT professionals. Already an outsized number of Indians on the H-1B visas have lost their jobs and are headed back home during the coronavirus pandemic.
The White House, however, said that no final judgment has been made and therefore the administration is considering various proposals.
The administration is currently evaluating a good range of options, formulated by career experts, to guard American workers and job seekers especially disadvantaged and underserved citizens but no decisions of any kind are made, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said during a statement.
In addition to the H-1B visas, the suspension could apply to the H-2B visa for short-term seasonal workers, the J-1 visa for short-term workers including camp counselors and au pairs and therefore the L-1 visa for internal company transfers, the financial daily reported.
