In a major setback to Indian IT companies, a proclamation issued by the President of the USA, Donald Trump has banned the issue of H-1B visas for the rest of the year.
Other non-immigrant visa programmes, including H-2B, J, and L, are also covered under the ambit of the Presidential order. The proclamation will come into effect on June 24.
Hugely popular among the Indian and Chinese IT companies, H-1B visas are extensively used by them to help their highly-skilled employees find employment in the USA. As per US sources, of all the latest H-1B visa applications filed, around 67% are from Indian IT companies.
Around 85,000 such visas are issued by the USA every financial year for highly-skilled workforce as well as for students seeking employment in the USA after receiving their education there itself.
Saying that he had to make the announcement in the wake of the soaring unemployment levels in the domestic market sparked by the pandemic, he said in his statement, "American workers compete against foreign nationals for jobs in every sector of our economy, including against millions of aliens who enter the United States to perform temporary work. Temporary workers are often accompanied by their spouses and children, many of whom also compete against American workers."
Trump, however, admitted that such visa-programmes may benefit the USA economy under normal circumstances, but quickly added that during times of crisis, they become a threat to the domestic workforce, which is already having a hard time amid the devastation caused by COVID-19.
He stated, "Under ordinary circumstances, properly administered temporary worker programmes can provide benefits to the economy. But under the extraordinary circumstances of the economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak, certain non-immigrant visa programmes authorising such employment pose an unusual threat to the employment of American workers."
The move will adversely impact many Indian, Chinese, and even American IT companies which were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021. Now, they will have to wait at least till the end of the year before knocking on the doors of the US diplomatic missions for the purpose of stamping.
