Indian H-1B Visa Holders ‘Trapped’ In The US Due To Immigration Uncertainty
The H-1B program allows nearly 65,000 foreign workers to acquire visas through a lottery system every year.
Tech professionals working in the United States have reportedly been asked not to leave the country as they might be denied re-entry due to the new Trump administration’s immigration policies. The group includes many Indians employed at top companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon. They were granted an H-1B visa to work in the American tech industry. Amid growing uncertainty about their future, the major tech firms have forbidden their foreign employees to travel to their homeland, supposedly to avoid unnecessary hassle, reported the Washington Post.
Since assuming the presidency, Donald Trump has been keen to modify the US immigration policies. He has already deported a large number of people, who had been living in the country illegally. This “reverse migration" has raised concerns among the H-1B visa holders as well.
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Washington Post spoke to two Indian tech workers who claimed they had dropped their plans to visit India considering the uncertainty over their re-entry. One of them was also doubtful about the potential changes to birthright citizenship. He feared that Trump’s new policy might cause problems for his future child who would be neither American nor Indian.
“There’s an assumption that everybody who is not a US citizen might be here illegally," said one Indian H-1B worker revealed to the Washington Post through an attorney.
The H-1B program allows nearly 65,000 foreign workers to acquire visas through a lottery system every year. Indians mostly lead the approval charts, followed by Chinese and Canadian nationals. The H-1B visa system has been crucial for the US tech industry as major employers such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Apple prioritise skills over nationality.
Since Trump took office, some foreigners have started keeping all the required documents with them when in public. Companies are also covering the expenses of their visa extension to avoid delay.
An HR representative from a tech firm, based in Silicon Valley, shared that the growing uncertainty “affects their performance and productivity" while the “constant threat of potential action creates a tense environment", as per the Washington Post.
Indian workers with the Green Cards are allowed to reside in the US permanently. The approval process, however, has become quite complicated in recent times. Despite working in reputed organisations for many years, many people had to wait for over a decade to get a Green Card.
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