A group of US Senators have written to US President Donald Trump asking him to suspend all issuing of non-immigrant work permits such as the H-1B visas for at least a year or till employment levels return to normal in the US.
They also recommend temporarily suspending the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme which lets foreign students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics to work in the US for up to three years after graduating, as well as the EB-5 investor visa programme.
Instead, they want relaxation of the rules to get more doctors and nurses to combat the shortage of health professionals in the US, in the wake of the Covid-19 epidemic.
H-1B Spouses Get Relief in US U-turn
The US government has made a U-turn in its plan to review and possibly revoke what is known as the H-4 employment authorisation document (EAD), which allowed spouses of H-1B visa holders to legally work in the country.
Indian nationals account for over two-thirds of H-1B visa holders in the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security has appealed to a US district court not to do away with an earlier Obamaera law that allowed spouses of H1-B visa holders to be employed locally. It argued that this did not take away jobs from American nationals. The US District Court of Columbia has yet to rule on the matter.
If the court rules in favour of the US government, then around 100,000 Indian families stand to benefit. Since the H-4 work authorization policy was introduced in 2015, Indians, primarily female engineers have been the biggest beneficiaries.
