Joe Biden to lift suspension on H-1B visas, Indian IT professionals to benefit

Washington DC, April 02: United States President Joe Biden has brought major relief to the thousands of Indian IT professionals residing in the US. Taking the decision on H-1B visas, the White House allowed a 2020 ban on H1-B skilled workers and certain other temporary visas to expire on March 31.

 

Former US President Donald Trump had issued a proclamation in June last year suspending entry to the US of applicants for several temporary or non-immigrant visa categories, including H-1B. He had signed the order citing it as an essential step to save the jobs of Americans who had lost their work due to the Covid-19 crisis. The executive order had barred the entry of eligible work visa holders, first for 60 days till August, which was extended till December and then March 31.

 

 

 

The H-1B work visa program allows American companies to hire highly-skilled foreign workers to make up for the local shortage. US government has a cap of 85,000 total H-1B visas for each year. Of this, 65,000 H-1B visas are issued to highly skilled foreign workers, while the rest 20,000 can be additionally allotted to highly skilled foreign workers who have a higher education or master's degree from an American university.

 

 

With that Biden has fulfilled his promise which he had made during the election. He had promised to lift the suspension on H-1B visas, saying Trump’s immigration policies were cruel.

 

On February 25 this year, President Biden lifted the Trump-era ban on Green Cards, which allows immigrants to live and work permanently in America and set them on course for citizenship, saying it “does not advance the interests of the United States … To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here.”

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