Washington:
US President Joe Biden on Thursday let the ban on foreign workers visa, in distinct H-1B, lapse as the notification issued by his predecessor Donald Trump expired, a move which is most likely to advantage thousands of Indian IT experts.
Amid a national lockdown and the COVID-19 crisis, Trump in June final year issued a proclamation that suspended entry to the US of applicants for many short-term or “non-immigrant” visa categories, such as H-1B, arguing that these visas presented a danger to the US labour industry through the financial recovery.
On December 31, Trump extended the order to March 31, 2021, noting that an extension was warranted as the pandemic continued to disrupt American’s lives, and higher levels of unemployment and job loss had been nevertheless presenting severe financial challenges to workers across the US.
Biden did not concern a fresh proclamation for the ban on H-1B visas to continue following March 31.
He had promised to lift the suspension on H-1B visas, saying Trump’s immigration policies had been cruel.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that enables US providers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that demand theoretical or technical experience. Technology providers rely on it to employ tens of thousands of personnel every single year from nations like India and China.
The expiry of the Trump’s proclamation would now outcome in the issuing of H-1B visas by American diplomatic missions overseas that would outcome in US providers bringing in talented technologies experts inside the nation.
No new proclamation was issued by Biden till Wednesday mid-evening, resulting in the automatic finish to the ban on issuing of fresh H-1B visas.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House will not renew a ban on H-1B and other work-based visas imposed final year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that is set to expire on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a Republican Senator from Missouri on Wednesday urged Biden to concern a fresh proclamation to continue with the H-1B visa ban.
“I write today to urge you to extend the freeze on temporary foreign worker entries into the United States that, without intervention, will expire today,” Senator Josh Hawley wrote in a letter to Biden.
“The presidential proclamation suspending entry of certain temporary workers into the US has protected Americans suffering from the pandemic-induced economic crisis. With millions of struggling Americans out of work – and millions more desperate to make ends meet – now is not the time to open the floodgates to thousands of foreign workers competing with American workers for scarce jobs and resources,” he wrote.
In his letter, Hawley wrote that the unemployment price remains at 6.2 per cent – with almost 10 million Americans out of work and hunting for a job. The pandemic has been specifically devastating for low-revenue and working class Americans, several of whom have borne the brunt of the crisis – and stand to shed the most from misguided policy choices, he stated.
In periods of higher unemployment, it tends to make no sense to let a struggling labour industry to be flooded with a wave of foreign competitors, he stated.
“What makes even less sense is to willingly introduce further competition for the US workers at the same time that a disastrous illegal immigration crisis grows on our southern border. As at the border, failure to take meaningful action is, in itself, a policy decision with detrimental impacts for American workers.
“I urge you to extend the short-term foreign worker entry suspension till the national unemployment price has meaningfully declined, and till your administration has performed a thorough critique of non-immigrant visa programmes to make sure that American workers are totally and proficiently protected from harm,” Hawley added.