#Coronavirus: US Govt Will Consider H1B Visa Extension For Indians, Travellers Can Also Apply For Visa Extension

As the International flights have been curbed and ports of entry shut by the US Government, many Indians and people of other nationalities were concerned over their expiring visas.

Indian travellers can breathe a sigh of relief as these travellers can apply to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for extensions to those visas.

Read to find out more…

Extension of Visas!

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said when ANI inquired during a call with international media persons, “USCIS is taking what I would characterize as a very appropriate view of the circumstances in deciding those. So visas, for instance, where an extension is being requested today and you’re going to a country where the flights have been taken down, can readily be expected to be favorably received by USCIS, whereas say two months ago that would not have been the case. If flights are available and your visa’s coming to an end, you’d have been expected to get on one of those flights and return home.”

Additionally he said, “USCIS is accounting for the challenges that travel restrictions all over the world, not just in the United States, are placing on individuals’ abilities to sincerely abide by the terms of their visas. So we do understand that and USCIS I think you’ll find to be very accommodating,” the official added. 

Earlier this week, a senior DHS official said, “The department would support steps for safer working conditions in light of the pandemic and that he expected the USCIS to take that into account while deciding on whether people on an H-1B visa could telecommute.”

Who and How does it Benefit?

This measure is a  ‘very reasonable consideration’ that could be expected in the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the escalating cases of the virus in the United States of America. 

The news comes as a relief for H1B visa holders who face challenges to the terms of their existing visas because they are being forced to do teleworking.