WASHINGTON: Biden Lets Trump Era H-1B Visa Bans Expire, Indian Techies To Benefit

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on
Thursday let the ban on foreign workers visa, in particular H-1B, lapse as the
notification issued by his predecessor Donald Trump expired, a move which is
likely to benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals.

Amid a
national lockdown and the COVID-19 crisis, Trump in June last year issued a
proclamation that suspended entry to the US of applicants for several temporary
or “non-immigrant” visa categories, including H-1B, arguing that
these visas presented a risk to the US labour market during the economic
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 high levels of unemployment and job loss were still presenting serious
economic challenges to workers across the US.

Biden did
not issue a fresh proclamation for the ban on H-1B visas to continue after
March 31.

He had
promised to lift the suspension on H-1B visas, saying Trump’s immigration
policies were cruel.

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

The
expiry of the Trump’s proclamation would now result in the issuing of H-1B
visas by American diplomatic missions overseas that would result in US
companies bringing in talented technology professionals inside the country.

No new
proclamation was issued by Biden till Wednesday mid-night, resulting in the
automatic end 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 last 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 issue 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 rate remains at 6.2 per cent – with
nearly 10 million Americans out of work and looking for a job. The pandemic has
been especially devastating for low-income and working class Americans, many of
whom have borne the brunt of the crisis – and stand to lose the most from
misguided policy decisions, he said.

In
periods of high unemployment, it makes no sense to allow a struggling labour
market to be flooded with a wave of foreign competition, he said.

“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
temporary foreign worker entry suspension until the national unemployment rate
has meaningfully declined, and until your administration has conducted a
thorough review of non-immigrant visa programmes to ensure that American
workers are fully and effectively protected from harm,” Hawley added.