Outgoing US President Donald Trump has halted any new H-1B visas and other work visas for foreigners by three months until 31st March 2021. In a new year jolt to especially IT companies, a lot of them from India, Trump is seen playing to his conservative voters saying he is protecting American jobs by denying the most sought after visa to foreigners. The decision will impact a large number of Indian IT professionals who were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021 beginning October 1. They were waiting for COVID-19 to settle down before immigrating to USA. The freeze on various categories of work visas was first ordered by Trump through two proclamations on 22nd April 22 and 22nd June 22 in 2020. Hours before the freeze was set to expire on 31st December, Trump issued another proclamation to extend it until 31st March. He said that the reasons had not changed. 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. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. Trump`s latest proclamation says that “the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to significantly disrupt Americans` livelihoods. While the November overall unemployment rate in the United States of 6.7 per cent reflects a marked decline from its April high, there were still 9.8 million fewer seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs in November than in February of 2020.”
Outgoing US President Donald Trump has halted any new H-1B visas and other work visas for foreigners by three months until 31st March 2021. In a new year jolt to especially IT companies, a lot of them from India, Trump is seen playing to his conservative voters saying he is protecting American jobs by denying the most sought after visa to foreigners. The decision will impact a large number of Indian IT professionals who were issued H-1B visas by the US government for the fiscal year 2021 beginning October 1. They were waiting for COVID-19 to settle down before immigrating to USA. The freeze on various categories of work visas was first ordered by Trump through two proclamations on 22nd April 22 and 22nd June 22 in 2020. Hours before the freeze was set to expire on 31st December, Trump issued another proclamation to extend it until 31st March. He said that the reasons had not changed. 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. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. Trump`s latest proclamation says that “the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to significantly disrupt Americans` livelihoods. While the November overall unemployment rate in the United States of 6.7 per cent reflects a marked decline from its April high, there were still 9.8 million fewer seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs in November than in February of 2020.”
