The issue of H1B visa reforms by the USA administration is the most discussed issue among the corporate professionals. The newly elected Donald Trump administration in USA is following the trade protectionist policies in international trade matters and has gone ahead with the reforms in H1B visa issue reforms, hitting the Indian Information & Technology sector (IT sector). The basic knowledge of visa, its types, H1B visa and the recent changes, impact of H1B visa policy reforms on Indian IT professionals, is essential for everybody especially the IT sector professionals and the various competitive examination aspirants. This article tries to throw light on H1B visa and its related aspects.

The word ‘visa’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘charta visa’ which means ‘paper which has been seen’. It is a conditional authorization granted by a country to a foreigner, allowing them to enter and temporarily remain within, or to leave that country. Based on the purpose of visit by a foreigner to a particular country, the visa can be of various types. It can be a Transit Visa      ( valid for some 5 days); Tourist visa (for a limited period of leisure travel & no business activities allowed); Business Visa (for engaging in commerce in the country); Temporary Worker Visa (for approved employment in the host country); On-Arrival Visa (granted at a port of entry); Spouse Visa or Partner Visa (granted to the spouse, civil partner or de facto partner of a resident or citizen); Student Visa (allows its holder to study at an institution of higher learning) and so on. USA has always been the dream destination for many of the IT professionals, especially from India. USA administrative authorities issue either Immigrant Visa or Non-immigrant Visa. These have been further classified in alphanumerical order such as A1, A2, B1, B2, etc. The number of types of Visa ranges from alpha numerals A to W. ‘A’ series Visas are issued to the Ambassadors; ‘B’ series Visas are For Business And Tourism; ‘C’ series Visas are  the transit Visas; ‘D’ series Visas are given to winners of some lottery winners or spouses and children that get ‘D’ Visas; ‘E’ series Visas are the Business Visas for traders that belong to countries with which USA has trade treaties; ‘F’ series Visas are for students; ‘G’ series Visas  are for the various categories of representatives to international organizations and families. The ‘H’ series Visas are for the Skilled Workers. The ‘H’ series Visas are of special interest to the Indian software professionals. The categories of H Visas are      H-1B, H1B1, H1C, H-2A, H2B, H3 and H4. All of them are of ‘Dual intent’ meaning for employment or training. Out of them, the H1B Visas are for skilled workers means temporary workers and trainees that have specialty occupations. This includes the skilled professionals that go for employment in the United States of America. The employees that come from Chile and Singapore are given the H1B1 Visas as they come under the Chile and Singapore Free Trade Agreement. If the skilled professionals are registered nurses participating in the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas, they are given H1C Visas. If the skilled professional comes to USA for seasonal agricultural purposes, they come under the H-2A category. If the profession is seasonal but does not pertain to agriculture, then the H2B category is given. H3 Visa is for industrial trainees and H4 Visa is for the spouses and families of H1, H2 and H3 Visa professionals.

India’s software services industry, already facing pressures on profitability and revenue, has become the latest target of the Trump administration’s move to protect American jobs, by virtue of implanting the H1B visa rules. The proposed legislation is expected to reduce the H1B visas from existing quota of 65000 per year to the lesser number. Secondly, it also calls for more than doubling the minimum salary of H1B holders to $130,000 from the existing level of $60,000. These amendments would focus on making it difficult to replace USA employees with foreign workers and it is believed that this move would cause a body blow to the companies such as Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd in its present shape. Amidst the rumours of reduction in H1B visa for Indian IT professionals, Union Commerce Minister of India Ms Nirmala Sitharaman has categorically stated that there wouldn’t be any reduction of H1B visas for Indians. There would be some corrections in lottery system of H1B visa allocations by the USA administrative authorities. USA authorities are planning to develop more merit based immigration system as H1B visas would be issued to most skilled or highest paid petitioners only.

Out of the allocated quota of H1B visas to professionals all over the world, roughly 70% of H1B visas used to be allocated to the workers from India. The proposed H1B visa reforms by USA administration will pose a challenging situation to the Indian IT companies. The reservations for H1B visa for Start-up companies with less than 50 employees would now decrease the availability of number of visas for the Indian firms and would lead to lesser number of opportunities for Indian professionals to work offshore. The remittances from Indian software professionals working in USA would be reduced, hurting the Indian economy’s Balance of payment situation. This move of H1B visa reforms would force the Indian IT giants to make fundamental changes in their strategies in terms of hiring, salaries, jobs, etc and this would affect employees in India too.

The protectionist trade policies and visa restriction policies of USA along with the generalised recessionary trends in global manufacturing has posed a great challenge to the Indian manufacturing and services sectors. The multipronged corrective approach with focus on domestic industries based export-led growth model of Indian economy along with the negotiations on visa restrictions policy with USA authorities for getting concessions on H1B visa to the Indian IT professionals, could set the path for India’s dominance in global IT sector in the coming years.

(The author of this article , Lt Col (Dr) Satish Dhage, is an ex Army officer and has been qualified for IPS (Indian Police Services) through IPS LCE 2012. Presently, he is Director, MGM Institute of Competitive Exams Aurangabad. For any queries or feedback, he can be contacted on email id : drsatishdhage@gmail.com)

Petitions for H1-B visas, popular among Indian IT professionals, will be accepted from April 2, a federal agency announced on Tuesday.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also announced the suspension of premium processing of all H-1B petitions which are subject to the annual caps.

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. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The H-1B petition filing is for the fiscal year 2019 beginning October 1, 2018.

Read also: Indians rally across US to end green card backlog

The suspension of premium processing of all H-1B petitions which are subject to the annual caps is expected to last until September 10, 2018. During this time, theUSCIS + said it will continue to accept premium processing requests for H-1B petitions that are not subject to the fiscal 2019 cap.

“We will notify the public before resuming premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions or making any other premium processing updates,” it said.

At the same time, the USCIS said while premium processing is suspended, a petitioner may submit a request to expedite an FY 2019 cap-subject H-1B petition if it meets the expedited criteria.

The USCIS said that the temporary suspension of premium processing will help it reduce overall H-1B processing time.

By temporarily suspending premium processing, the USCIS said it will be able to process long-pending petitions, which it has currently been unable to process due to the high volume of incoming petitions and the significant surge in premium processing requests over the past few years; and prioritise adjudication of H-1B extension of status cases that are nearing the 240-day mark.

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As an H-1B non-immigrant, the applicant may be admitted for a period of up to three years. The time period may be extended, but generally cannot go beyond a total of six years. However, there are some exceptions to it.

The H1-B visa has an annual numerical limit cap of 65,000 visas each fiscal year as mandated by the Congress. The first 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of beneficiaries with a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the cap.

Additionally, H1-B workers who are petitioned for or employed at an institution of higher education or its affiliated or related nonprofit entities or a nonprofit research organisation or a government research organisation are not subject to this numerical cap.

According to the USCIS, between 2007 and 2017, it received the maximum number of 2.2 million H-1B petitions from high-skilled Indians. India was followed by China with 301,000 H-1B petitions during the same period.

A passport is a legal document, issued by governments worldwide to certify proof of identity and citizenship. It is meant to confirm your identity when you visit another country that is not governed by your own. The passport includes your photo and several blank pages for official documentation when you arrive in another country. A visa, on the other hand, is an official document provided by the country you wish to visit, granting you temporary permission to enter the country for a certain amount of time.