An eminent Indian-American community leader from Silicon Valley has urged US lawmakers to remove the prevailing seven per cent cap on green cards, observing that the country-specific limit on the most sought-after residency document has created extensive backlogs. A Green Card is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing in the country permanently.

Speaking at the US-India summit held at the US Capitol on Wednesday, Ajay Jain Bhutoria, an entrepreneur and community leader, asked why there was a cap on the Green Card if not on an H-1 visa.

“When we do not have a country’s limit on giving an H-1 visa to support our companies, businesses and economy. Why should we have a country cap limit on green card issuance,” Bhutoria said at the summit organised by Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna in his capacity as Co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus.

The per-country caps are numerical limits on the issuance of green cards to individuals from certain countries.

Immigration law provides for approximately 140,000 employment-based green cards to be issued each year.

However, only seven per cent of those green cards can go to individuals from a single country annually.

If the number of individuals being sponsored from a single country is greater than seven per cent of the annual available total, a backlog forms and the excess approved petitions are not considered until a visa becomes available and their petition falls within the initial seven per cent per-country cap.

“These country-specific caps have created extensive backlogs, forcing individuals from certain countries-primarily India and China in the employment-based categories- to wait much longer than average to receive their green cards, simply because of their country of origin,” he said.

“We estimate that more than 880,000 people, including dependent spouses and children, are waiting in the US in employment-based green card backlogs.

“In some categories, applicants who began the process in 2012 are just now able to file formally, meaning they may have waited more than a decade to join their families, even though they were already qualified to do so. These wait times are projected to extend up to 50 years if the law is not changed,” Bhutoria said.

Making a detailed presentation, Bhutoria said that the number of students coming to the US from India on average is around 180-190 thousand per year.

There are 85,000 H-1B work visas issued every year and out of which nearly 60 per cent of H-1B visas are issued via a fair lottery system to tech workers from India, so around 51,000-60,000 H-1B visas.

The number of employment-based green cards issued to people from India is roughly around 7,000-8,000 per year due to the seven per c ..

cent country cap limit.

This 7,000-8,000 includes dependents of primary applicants, so roughly 2,000 Individual H-1B applicants get green cards every year for people of India.

Bhutoria said 180-190 thousand students from India come here to study, 50,000-60,000 get H-1B and only roughly 2,000 get green cards every year due to the country’s seven per cent cap limit, the rest applicants continue to live an uncertain life.

“So the request is to remove the seven per cent country limit,” Bhutoria said.

In a big relief for foreign workers in the U.S. tech sector, a judge has ruled that spouses of H-1B visa holders can work in the United States.

In the process, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan dismissed a lawsuit filed by Save Jobs USA which had approached the court to dismiss the Obama-era regulation that gave employment authorization cards to spouses of certain categories of H-1B visa holders.

Tech companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft had opposed the lawsuit. The U.S. has so far issued nearly 1,00,000 work authorizations to spouses of H-1B workers, a significantly large number of whom are Indians.

In her order, Judge Chutkan said the primary contention of Save Jobs USA is that Congress has never granted the Department of Homeland Security authority to allow foreign nationals, like H-4 visa-holders, to work during their stay in the United States.

But that contention runs headlong into the text of the Immigration and Nationality Act, decades of executive-branch practice and both explicit and implicit congressional ratification of that practice, she wrote.

The judge wrote that Congress has expressly and knowingly empowered the U.S. Government to authorize employment as a permissible condition of an H-4 spouse’s stay in the United States.

The fact that the federal government has had longstanding and open responsibility for authorizing employment for similar visa classes further manifests Congress’ approval of it exercising that authority, she said.

The Department of Homeland Security and its predecessors have authorized employment not just for students, but also for their spouses and dependents, Judge Chutkan wrote in the ruling.

Also, the Department of Homeland Security has long extended work authorization to spouses of foreign government officials and spouses of employees or officers of international organizations, the judge wrote as she dismissed the lawsuit filed by Save Jobs USA.

Ajay Bhutoria, a prominent community leader and advocate for immigrant rights, has applauded the decision by the court to allow H1B spouses to work and support their families.

The H1B visa programme is designed to allow skilled foreign workers to come to the United States and work for American companies. However, until recently, H1B spouses were not allowed to work, which often placed a significant financial burden on families, he said.

“With the court’s decision to allow H1B visa holders’ spouses to work, thousands of families across the country will be able to breathe a little easier. This decision will provide much-needed relief to families who have been struggling to make ends meet and it will help to ensure that these families can stay together and thrive,” Mr. Bhutoria said.

“Allowing H1B spouses to work is not just a matter of economic fairness, but it is also a matter of family unity and stability. I applaud the court’s decision, and I hope that this is just the first step towards a more compassionate and equitable immigration system,” he said.

Save Jobs USA said it plans to appeal against the court ruling.

Almost a month after opening up visa slots for Indian citizens over the weekends, the United States has now announced that it will issue visas to one million Indians this year.“The US Mission has already processed more than two lakh applications at our Embassy and Consulates in India and we’re on track to hit our goal of processing more than one million non-immigrant visa applications in 2023,” a spokesperson from the US Embassy. “Our goal is to process one million visa applications, which include non-immigrant visas of all categories,” the spokesperson added.

In 2022, the US Department of State processed around nine million non-immigrant visa applications worldwide, according to the Embassy.

The non-immigrant visa categories include those for business, travel, students visas and crew visas.

To achieve the target, the Embassy is adding more staff, expanding the scope of drop-box facilities and opening up interview slots over the weekend to smoothen the process for Indian citizens. The waiting time for visas has already decreased significantly.

In January, the US embassy opened up special interview slots on Saturdays for faster processing of visas for first-time applicants, in what it called a “multi-pronged initiative” to address the backlog in processing of visa applications due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The US mission, which has offices in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad besides the national capital, has also increased the strength of its consular staff, it said in a statement.

“The one million visa plan is an India-specific effort, to further strengthen the people-to-people ties between the two countries,” says the Embassy spokesperson.

For Indian citizens seeking a US visa, the purview of the interview waiver was also expanded recently.

The drop-box facility, which is used to renew a US visa without having to go through the interview, is now applicable to various categories, including student visas, business and tourist visas, and skilled worker visas.

The department is also increasing the number of consular officers permanently assigned to the embassy and consulates.

“By the summer, the US mission in India will reach its full strength and we expect to process visas at pre-Covid levels,” the department said.

While addressing the media in Washington a couple of weeks ago, Deputy Assistant Secretary for visa services in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Julie Stufft, had said, “India is the number one priority now.”

She added, “So far this year, we have issued 36 percent more visas than we did before the COVID-19 pandemic in India. And that is a huge percentage of progress.”

Last month, the US Embassy in India said Indians who are travelling abroad can get a visa appointment at the US Embassy or consulate of their destination. It cited the example of Thailand, saying that the country has opened appointment capacity for B1 and B2 visas (business and travel) for Indians.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest data shows Indians spent more than $1 billion monthly on average on international travelling during April-December 2022-23 period. The numbers are significantly higher than pre-Covid levels.

The RBI data shows for April-December period of 2022-23, the outward remittances from India under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) for the purpose of travel stood at $9.95 billion, up from $4.16 billion during the same period last year and $5.4 billion during FY21.

According to the RBI guidelines issued in October 2021, under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, all resident individuals, including minors, are allowed to freely remit up to $2,50,000 per financial year (April–March) for any permissible current or capital account transaction or both.

The scheme was introduced on February 4, 2004, with a limit of $25,000 but it has been revised in stages considering the prevailing macro and micro economic conditions.

In the case of the remitter being a minor, the LRS declaration form must be countersigned by the minor’s natural guardian. The scheme is not available to corporates, partnership firms, HUF, trusts, etc. Under the scheme, remittance purchase of lottery tickets/sweep stakes, proscribed magazines, etc.) or any item restricted under Schedule II of Foreign Exchange Management (Current Account Transactions) Rules, 2000, are prohibited.

Remittance from India for margins or margin calls to overseas exchanges or remittances for the purchase of FCCBs issued by Indian companies in the overseas secondary market are also prohibited.

Individuals can avail of foreign exchange facilities for private visits to any country, except Nepal and Bhutan, gift or donation, going abroad for employment, emigration, maintenance of close relatives abroad, travel for business, or attending a conference or specialised training or for meeting expenses for meeting medical expenses, or check-up abroad, or for accompanying as attendant to a patient going abroad for medical treatment or check-up.

Expenses in connection with medical treatment abroad and studies abroad and any other current account transaction, which is not covered under the definition of the current account in FEMA 1999, are also covered in it.

Meanwhile, Indians are displaying strong intention to move to another country as across age groups, the preference to move abroad is the highest in India when compared to global respondents, the latest report by CBRE South Asia said. Around 16% have already relocated in the past two years, while 17% of Indians are planning to relocate in the next two years, shows the survey data.

It found respondents displayed a stronger intention to move to a new home in the next two years — 44% vs 31% in the previous two years, which is significantly higher when compared to both global and APAC respondents.

In a move that could benefit tens of thousands of foreign tech workers on H-1B and L1 visas, the US is planning to resume “domestic visa revalidation” in certain categories on a pilot basis with the goal of scaling it up in the next few years.
The pilot project, to be launched later this year, when fully implemented, would be a big relief to thousands of Indian tech professionals in the United States.

Until 2004, certain categories of non-immigrant visas, particularly the H-1B, could be renewed or stamped inside the US. After that, for renewal of these visas, in particular, those on H-1B, the foreign tech workers have to go out of the country, mostly to their own country to get the H-1B extension stamped on their passport.

For all the H-1B visa holders, when their visa is renewed, they need to get their passports stamped with renewal dates. This is required if they wish to travel outside of the US and re-enter the US. As of now, H-1B visa restamping is not allowed within the US.

Restamping can only be done at any US consulate.

This was a big inconvenience for foreign guest workers and also for their employees, particularly at a time when the visa wait time is more than 800 days or more than two years.

The much-sought-after H-1B visas are issued for three years at a time.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality 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.

“We are working in earnest on plans to restart this service for certain petition-based NIV categories, and we hope to have a pilot up and running later this year. This would eliminate the need for these applicants to travel abroad to renew visas,” a State Department spokesperson told PTI.

The State Department facilitated domestic visa revalidation until 2004 for applicants who were physically present in the US and renewing a visa in certain petition-based nonimmigrant visa (NIV) categories, the official said.

“We cannot comment on how many visa holders would be initially eligible, but the pilot would begin with a small number of cases before scaling over the following 1-2 years,” said the State Department spokesperson in response to a question.

Over the past few months, the Biden administration has taken several steps to streamline the visa processing system and reduce inconveniences.

Notably, this was one of the recommendations of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, which now seems to have been implemented by the State Department.

Under the existing rule, that came into force in 2004, the procedure for restamping H1-B and L visas is to visit the home country and submit their H1, and L1 visas, passports, and documents by way of a dropbox or interview.

People have to wait months or years for H1-B visa stamping or sometimes they get no response after submitting all documents and get stuck for over 2 years in their home country. While their families are waiting in the US for him/her to come back, the presidential commission had argued in one of its meetings last year.

Moved by a commission member, Ajay Jain Bhutoria from Silicon Valley, the presidential commission recommended that H1-B and L visas be allowed for restamping in the US by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

It urged the USCIS to establish a separate department or unit to handle restamping of renewed H1-B and L visas within the US.

The commission felt that the whole process has proven to be very painful for legal immigrants who are invited to work here in the US to support the US companies and the economy.

Amidst massive layoffs in the American tech sector that have resulted in a large number of Indian professionals being jobless, two Indian-American organisations have launched an online petition urging President Joe Biden to extend the grace period of H-1B visas holders from two months to a year. This means that once fired from a job, a foreign tech worker on H-1B visas would have one year to find a new job instead of the existing duration of 60 days, after which they have to leave the country.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality 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.
“On behalf of immigrants (from the world, mainly from India and China) as well as naturalised citizens like Indian-Americans, Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies and Global Technology Professionals Association (GITPRO) has submitted an appeal to the President of the United States, the Secretary of DHS (Department of Homeland Security) and the director of USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) to extend the current grace period from 60 days to 1 year (minimum 6 months),” the online petition said.

“We join the appeal and request to sympathetically consider the impact of the families on humanitarian grounds. We believe that this extension will pause this brain drain and ensure that the US will continue to be a world leader in technology and innovation. We also request elected officials to support this extension and if needed introduce a bill in the House of Representatives,” said the online petition that has been signed by more than 2,200 people so far.

According to LayoffTracker.com, 91,000 were laid off just in January 2023 and this number may grow in the coming months. This has a huge impact on them, and their families, especially on the H-1B holders who would need to leave the US immediately within 10 days beyond the H-1B grace period, the petition said.

In addition to the impact on them and their families, this is also a long-term impact on the talent that the US has. For example, 70 per cent of startup founders are immigrants. About 50+ CEOs of public companies are of Indian origin. Hence, the exodus of this talent from the US is harmful for the long-term interests of the US, especially in the modern age of Artificial Intelligence competition, it said.

“The laid-off H-1B holders currently have about 60 days to find another employer to file for the H-1B transfer or leave the country. During the current economic situation, it would be impossible for these hardworking, tax-paying and talented people to get hired till the economy recovers,” said the petition.

Meanwhile, a Facebook group of overseas Indians has launched a petition urging the Indian government to hire the laid-off Indian tech workers in the US.

“Considering the ongoing layoff situation, we are requesting you to consider hiring the recently laid-off and returning Indian IT workers as consultants as part of the digitisation initiatives undertaken by your ministries,” said the letter addressed to Ashwini Vaishnav, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.