The United States of America is likely going to put a temporary restriction on the issuing process for the work based visas, otherwise known as the H-1B visas. This is likely going to lead to distress among the foreign students and the work professionals in the country.
This specific decision has been adapted by the Trump government to curb the issues of unemployment that US is currently facing. The same has been an outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak which has been consistently spreading across the world.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows the companies in the US to hire foreign workers in the specialty occupations with the need of technical expertise. Over 500,000 migrant workers are hired every year in US under this visa application. This is one of the most commonly issued visa among the IT professionals in India.
“The president’s immigration advisers are drawing up plans for an upcoming executive order, likely this month, that would ban the issuance of some new temporary, work-based visas,” reported The Wall Street Journal.
According to the reports, these sudden changes to the plans will not just impact the issuance of the H-1B visas but also the H-2B visas along with the student visa and the work authorisation that accompanies them.
The publication has also clarified that the final decision to this has not yet been decided and the suspension of the visas could either range from staying entire visa categories to further creating incentives to hiring Americans in the industries that have been the worst hit because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Few of the Republican Senators had mentioned to President Donald Trump for suspension of the new guest worker visas for the coming 60 days including the H-1B visa for the upcoming year or at least until the unemployment figures in the US get better.
Over 33 million Americans has lost their jobs because of Covid-19 in the last two months. It has brought the US economy to a complete standstill. The White House officials have reported that the country’s economy is likely going to get better by 15-20% in the second quarter of the year.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has also reported that the unemployment rate in the US in April is at 14.7% which was the highest rate along with the largest over the month increase in the American history.
