With the current situation of the coronavirus scare across the world, people in the United States have lost their jobs.
Protesting for that, a US based anti-immigration group technology workers group have asked President Donald Trump to suspend the H-1B visa program to stop the growing joblessness of the people across the country.
The company, US Tech Workers, which is a non-profit organisation advocates for local hiring instead of international hiring. They have written to Donald Trump stating that over 3 million people in the United States have lost their jobs and with the uncertainty that the Covid-19 outbreak brings along, it is likely that the numbers will increase further. It can even increase up to 30%.
In the plea, they wrote saying, “We urge you to pause the H-1B visa program that would bring in 85,000 workers this year and suspend the recently approved addition of additional 35,000 workers for the H-2B visa.”
One of the leading IT companies, Nasscom, when approached on comments on this, they clarified saying, “H-1B visas fulfil an acknowledged critical skills gap for all global companies in the US market.”
Nasscom has also asked and requested the US Citizenship and Immigration Services for a 90-day grace period for the tech professionals to leave US following their visa is over. The current imposed limit is 60 days.
Several other organisations who represent the tech workers have asked for a grace period of 180 days because of the increase in the number of layoffs and the overall uncertainty surrounding the economy.
Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of this program. They are believed to receive over 70% of those visas annually. Owing to the fear of the coronavirus in the last few weeks, things have taken a hit for the worse. The number of visas allocated has drastically dropped. Aside from that, there has also been a higher rejection rate as well.
The US tech workers letter further emphasised their point saying, “With the historical displacement of workers, compounded by the current crisis, it is very concerning that the Department of Homeland Security is working to accelerate the delivery of H-1B and H2-B workers to the United States. We ask that you stand up for the productive class of this country and protect the interest of American workers.”
There have been no certainty or reply to the plea yet, so the reports for the status of the issuance of the H-1B visa is still something that needs to be looked around on by the American government.
