US President Joe Biden on Thursday let the ban on foreign workers visa, in particular H-1B, lapse as the notification issued by his predecessor Donald Trump expired, a move which is likely to benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals.
Amidst a national lockdown and the Covid-19 crisis, Trump in June last year issued a proclamation that suspended entry to the US of applicants for several temporary or “non-immigrant” visa categories, including H-1B, arguing that these visas presented a risk to the US labour market during the economic recovery.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty jobs that require theoretical or technical expertise. A big portion of the roughly 85,000 H1-B visas issued every year by the US is used by Indian IT services companies like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd, Infosys Ltd, and Wipro Ltd.
The expiry of the Trump’s proclamation would now result in the issuing of H-1B visas by American diplomatic missions overseas that would result in US companies bringing in talented technology professionals inside the country.
No new proclamation was issued by Biden till Wednesday mid-night, resulting in the automatic end to the ban on issuing of fresh H-1B visas.
H1-B visas, used more by Indian professionals than any other nationality, were suspended by U.S. President Donald Trump in June last year, ostensibly to protect American jobs, already reeling under the impact of the pandemic.
Visas for intra company transfers (L1), exchange visitors (J1), temporary non-agricultural workers (H-2B) and dependents of H1-B holders (H4) were also impacted by the expiring ban.
The White House did not make an official statement on the suspension’s expiration, as President Joe Biden traveled to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to unveil his $ 2 trillion American Jobs Plan – a massive, eight year infrastructure plan.
