H1B Visa Policy: Trump Administration Says No Change For H-1B Visas

The Donald Trump led U.S. administration has made a number of changes in the country’s H1B visa policies. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ skilled workers from foreign countries for job that require theoretical or technical expertise.

A lot of technology companies depend on H-1B visa to hire thousands of employees every year from countries like India and China. But, now, as the Trump administration has reformed the H-1B system, a lot of employees are now facing uncertainty due to inconsistent immigration decisions that curtail work permits for spouses of skilled immigrants.

It was expected that the Trump administration might undo some changes made in the H1B visa policy, but, now it seems the same isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

A senior Trump administration official has confirmed that there is no change in the US H-1B visa policy which is currently undergoing a review to ensure that it does not disadvantage US workers or wages.

The statement comes ahead of next week’s 2+2 Dialogue during which India is expected to raise the issue of the work visa popular among Indian IT professionals. Last month, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Rajya Sabha that India will be taking up the issue with the White House and US Congressmen.

“We will raise it humbly at the 2+2 dialogue on September 6 in New Delhi,” Swaraj had said.

A senior official of the Trump administration has acknowledged that it was prepared for India raising the H-1B issue at the 2+2 Dialogue. However, he added there isn’t going to be much discussion on the matter as the policy remained the same and was undergoing review.

The official said that the Trump Administration’s executive order has called for a broad review of the US worker visa programme known as H-1B in the interest of US workers or wages.

“But there has been no change to the processing of H-1B visas,” the official added. “So it’s really impossible for me to speculate on the outcome and any possible changes to the system. It is obviously an issue that is important to India.”

In related news, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Tuesday that it has extended the previously announced temporary suspension of premium processing for H1-B visas by over five months.

The normal processing time of H-1B visa petitions under the Premium processing is shortened from an average of six months to 15 days for a fee of $1,225.