As President Trump’s two-day visit to India comes to an end, the Indian diaspora in the US wants to know whether the trip-agenda touched upon the processing issues faced by H1-B visa holders. Spouses of these H1-B primary beneficiaries holding an H-4 Employment Authorization Document (EAD) await a final decision about their future in the US. The deadline is slated for March 2020.
What Was Concluded from Trump’s India Visit?
Statistics from the 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the Census Bureau concluded that due to supportive immigration policies particularly for skilled non-immigrants, 2010 started off with 1.8 million Indians and by 2018 increased by 49% to 2.7 million Indians.
By the time the stringent immigration policies were being implemented these numbers were hit by a high rate of H1-B petition denials, and increase in Request for Evidences (RFEs) that resulted in massive delays.
Do you have have everything to respond to an RFE?
With last year’s data we show how
Resolution to H1-B Processing Issues
FY 2019 -20 has seen an increase in H1-B petition denial go up from 6% to 24%. Stringent vetting of every aspect of the petition has made it harder to get approvals. While the Indian leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not broach the topic, President Trump avoided any references to skilled immigration altogether.
Future of H-4 EAD
H4 EAD was not a topic of discussion on either of the two days of the visit.
Even if President Trump did not reference the H4 EAD, we have everything you need
Recent updates, important court dates and Next Steps
Indian Outsourcing/Consultancy Firms
Last year, only two Indian companies among the top ten visa recipients (1,966) got visas compared to 8,898 for the other eight US based firms. Following a clamp down on consultancy firms by USCIS, companies like Cognizant and Infosys reduced their filings of green card for their employees. And instead, increased their investments within US delivery centers.
Which are the Top 10 Tech Companies that received H1-B Visas in 2019?
Here is the list that had 90% approval rate vs 60% denial rate
President Trump, during his visit to India promised to ease regulations and support Indian IT companies operating in the US. He gave a timeline of seven to eight months after which Indian IT companies will be able to function in the US with a little more ease.
Green Card Backlogs
Scores of highly skilled Indian workers including engineers and doctors are languishing in the green card processing backlog. Spanning anywhere between 10 to 50 years, they don’t see an end to this wait. This long wait also indicates that their dependent children will have to leave the country on turning 18 since they would not be eligible to stick with their parents’ petition once they turn adults. Triggered by this, a bill S386 to end the per country cap on green cards is being proposed in the US Congress. This is yet to pass.
In conclusion, while the visit to India ended on a happy note with several promises on the trade and military front, immigration reform wasn’t a key topic of discussion. However, President Trump did indicate that there will be some respite in regulations when it comes to Indian companies functioning in the US.
