While the stranded Indians in the United States have been extremely tensed about their visa status and the possible impacts on their stay in the country, U.S reports a good news for the H-1B holders.
The US government has decided to accept the H-1B visa applications of the stranded Indians in America to ensure an extension on their stay.
Under the H-1B visa, it allows the non-immigrants to be hired by the companies in U.S for their specialty occupations requiring in-depth technical expertise. This is the visa extension that allows hiring of tens of thousands of employees from India and China every year.
The US Department of homeland security (DHS) has reported in one of their new notifications that they understand the immigration related challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With almost every country with their borders sealed and then transportation completely eradicated, it has become a challenge for the individuals who are stranded in other countries and not able to return home.
These travel restrictions have left a number of H-1B visa holders in panic with their visas soon to expire.
DHS reported that they are shortly going to start accepting the applications for extension of the visas that are going to expire shortly.
In the issued notification, DHS further mentioned saying, “We continue to carefully analyse these issues and to leverage our resources to effectively address these challenges within our existing authorities. The DHS also continues to take action to protect the American people and our communities, and is considering a number of policies and procedures to improve the employment opportunities of US workers during this pandemic.”
In general scenarios, the non-immigrants are expected to leave the country before their visa expires to avoid any kinds of penalty.
The non-immigrants will be allowed to issue an application for extension of stay or change of status permit. Without the visa extension, thousands of students and professionals would have had a very hard time coping during this situation.
The notification further read that if the applicants put in the application on time, the same won’t be treated as unlawful but there are some criteria that need to be followed. It is important that the application should have same employment authorisation. The same is likely going to extend the visa for 240 days, in case everything is legit.
According to the reports from the US Citizen and Immigration Services, it does remind the applicants that they will be taking the delays amidst this pandemic into consideration when asked about the same.
As per the rules, in case an employer terminates the H-1B visa of the employee, they are given 60 days to find a new job to retain the visa, failing which they have to return to their home country. The Indian IT workers stuck in U.S have been seeking till 60-days extension to 180 days amidst the lockdown.
According to the statistics under USCIS, Indians are the major chunk of the H-1B beneficiaries.
