US to make H1-B visa renewals easier with new rule during Modi's visit: Report

The US administration seems poised to make it significantly easier for a small number of Indians and other foreign workers on H1B visas to renew their visas without having to travel abroad, said sources in the know according to an international news report.

This move, which is all set to take off during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US, will help Indian skilled workers particularly since a sizable number of H-1B workers are Indians in the US.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. It is largely technology companies that depend on this visa to hire thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

This initiative to facilitate the renewal of H1B visas in the US, is expected to be announced by the State Department on Thursday (June 22), said the Reuters report. It is being done  to coincide with PM Modi’s visit since Indian citizens make up 73 per cent of the nearly 442,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2022, according to the report.

These changes in visa application process are targetted at helping some skilled workers to easily enter or remain in the country. This is part of a pilot scheme which will possibly bve scaled up in the coming years. This pilot programme will also be applicable for workers with L-1 visas, which are used by people who are transferred within their company to work in the US.

Also read: US visas for Indians: Embassy to process record number of visas in 2023

How visa renewal in the US will help?

Firstly, when temporary foreign workers are able to renew visas in the US itself this in turn will ease the rush for visa interviews in consulates abroad. (Already, a separate initiative set in motion to clear a backlog of visa applications at US embassies in India is  paying off.) The visa backlog has forced some people to live away from their families for a long period and they have complained about their problems on social media.

Secondly, due to the recent spate of layoffs by tech companies, some H-1B visa holders in the US lost their jobs this year. And they had to run helter-skelter to hunt for a new job with the 60-day grace period or they had to return to their home country. One international newspaper reported that nearly 200,000 IT workers have been laid off since November last year and 30 to 40 per cent this number are Indian IT professionals, who are on H1-B visas of L-1 visas.

The Reuters report said that 73 per cent of the nearly 442,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2022 were Indians.

Also read: US plans to speed up process for foreign student visas, green card categories

India has for long been raising the issue of visa applications for Indians with the US administration. The problems that Indians face with visa applications will be discussed at the meetings during PM Modi’s visit to the US, said reports.

The Biden administration, which is eager to forge a deeper relationship with India, seems to be focussed on trying to facilitate visa access for Indians. However, it faces a hurdle in the form of the Congress to reform US immigration policy.