New Delhi: With PM Narendra Modi on the United States state visit, the Biden administration is all set to announce measures that will make it easier for Indian skilled workers to seek visas to live and work in the United States.
According to sources, the US State Department will soon launch a pilot program that would enable a select number of Indian and other foreign skilled workers holding H-1B visas to renew their visas within the United States, without traveling abroad.
Currently, H-1B visa holders need to travel outside the United States to renew their visas. Sources say the pilot program to be introduced by the Biden administration will help reduce such burden by allowing eligible individuals to extend their visas while remaining in the country. By facilitating the visa renewal process for H-1B holders in the US, the pilot program aims to streamline procedures and ease the challenges faced by these professionals.
By far, a large percentage of H-1B visa holders and applicants hail from India. Indian citizens made up 73 per cent of the nearly 4,42,000 H1-B workers in the fiscal year 2022. Another US official said that the mobility of the people is considered a "huge asset" to the US.
The visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US comes at a very unprecedented time when the world is facing geopolitical challenges. The outcome of the visit is expected to be fruitful for the development of both countries and will bolster the ties between India and the United States. There has been intense engagement between both countries in the recent past.
This indicates a strong commitment between both sides to fostering bilateral relations while addressing the needs of highly skilled Indian and other foreign workers. A US State Department spokesperson did not reveal the visa types that would qualify or the timing of the pilot launch. The spokesperson said that the pilot will start with a small number of cases with the intent to scale the initiative in the following one or two years.
Earlier in March, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the country has received the sufficient number of electronic registrations needed to reach the Congressionally mandated H-1B visa cap for the fiscal year 2024. "U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received enough electronic registrations during the initial registration period to reach the fiscal year (FY) 2024 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap), including the advanced degree exemption (master's cap)," USCIS said in the statement.
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