18 April 2017, USA:
The number of H-1B Visa applications have dropped down to 199,000 for the year 2018 compared to 236,000 applications last year, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service.
The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa in the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 101(a)(17)(H). It allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.
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Trump had promised his voters that he would overhaul the H-1B visa system to provide more jobs to Americans, whom he said were losing employment opportunities to “foreigners”. His stance poses particular problems for India, which sends the maximum H-1B workers to the US. The Indian government has been attempting to lobby with the White House to reconsider its efforts to tighten H-1B rules as per the report by Scroll.in.
Non-premium visa petitions can take as much as eight months before they’re approved, immigration lawyers say. USCIS hopes to reduce overall processing times with the temporary freeze. The annual cap on H-1B visas is 85,000, of which 20,000 are reserved for Master’s degree holders. (Image- Thinkstock/ cio.com)
