Washington DC: Indian nationals face a big setback in US as the USPresident unveils the new Visa Policy.
The process of filing petitions for H – 1B Visalink>has begun amidstunprecedented scrutiny by United States President Donald Trump`sadministration.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which isthe federal agency responsible to process the visas, has indicated thatthere will be zero tolerance for even minor errors.
H-1B is considered as the most sought-after work visa among highly-skilledIndian professionals.
It is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreignworkers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technicalexpertise.
Earlier in March, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Serviceshad announced that it will temporarily suspended the premium processing forthe H-1B visa.”The USCIS will begin accepting applications for the fiscalyear 2019 (October 2018 to September 2019) from April 2. The suspensionwill last until September 10,” the body had said.”This temporary suspensionwill help us reduce overall H-1B processing times. By temporarilysuspending premium processing, we will be able to process long-pendingpetitions, which we have currently been unable to process due to the highvolume of incoming petitions and the significant surge in premiumprocessing requests over the past few years,” the USCIS added.
The Donald Trump administration recently announced a new measure, makingthe approval of H 1B Visa more tougher.
As per the new policy, any company will have to make one more clarificationto prove that its H-1B employee at a third-party worksite has specific andnon-qualifying speculative assignments in a speciality occupation.
The updated policy is a part of Trump`s “Buy American and Hire American”Executive Order, which directs to protect the interests of US workers.
According to the US administration officials, the scrutiny is needed toensure the integrity of the controversial visa programme, which accordingto critics has cost American jobs.