With the Trump administration in command, there have been a lot of moderation done in the norms and reports of Immigration, the most widely touched been the H1B visa schemes. There has already been a tight watch on the immigration rules across the board, where the number of H1B visas issued to immigrants every year has dramatically dropped down.
After all this, the Trump government has now brought reforms in the new visa norms, confirming that in about a month’s time, it shall strip away the spouses of the H1B visa holders, their permits, i.e., H4 visas, to work in the country, i.e. work ban.
Another Trump-Led Attempt to Take Down Immigrants:
The US government on May 22 issued a notice under the federal government’s “unified agenda”, to revoke the rights of H4 visa holders to work, in about a month’s time now. H4 visas are issued to the spouses of H-1B visa holders a significantly large number of whom are high-skilled professionals employed in the U.S., allowing them to work.
The prohibition would affect wives and husbands of H-1B visa holders on track for a green card. A study has generated that 93% of about 100,000 spouses on H4-visa, are Indian women. Revoking their rights to work shall create a big problem for the spouses as well as the families related to these visa holders.
This rule to put up a work ban on H4 visa holders was first proposed in 2017 and has since then been missing its deadline to come into action. This time however, the whole process is in its second last stage. Once approved, the new federal rule shall enter a public comment period of 30 to 60 days.
The Effect on Families and IT Sectors:
In February 2015, the former president Barack Obama published the eligibility for employment authorisation to H-4 dependent spouses of H-1B visa holders, first proposed in 2011. Under this rule, the spouses of H-1B workers on track for green cards were allowed to work, where their high demand skills would be required so that they could live in the country and spur the innovation and growth of U.S. companies at the same time.
Unfortunately, Trump’s advent in the US administration believes in more for American, leading to remove the liberties of H4 visa holders and declaring them as a class of aliens hovering up the employment opportunities that could otherwise be beneficial for Americans.
The move will have a major impact on Indian women as they are the major beneficiary of the Obama-era rule. Indian females make up 90% of the 1.2 lakh H4 visas issued since 2015. The Trump government believes that a move of such, shall work in favour of American workers, as they would have a better chance at obtaining jobs that the population of H-4 workers currently hold.
However, the biggest effect this move will reflect is on the Silicon Valley’s tech industries, like Google, Facebook and Apple, as they heavily rely on H1B immigrants. These companies believe that given the high-tech skills required, it is extremely difficult for them to find mass of like-skilled U.S. individuals, reflecting the same high-tech skills.
If this rule is brought into action and spouses of H1B visa holders are stripped off their rights to work, they’ve reported to leave the country to continue their professions, along with their families, having a negative effect on the US giants that employ them, as well.
A fallout of the scrapping of visa, will be a shortage of talent for the US companies, as these families would move back to India. An action of such a nature will definitely shape up the minds of future Indians while considering their options to shift in a country of such fickle turnout.
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