Us Work Visa - Visa News for Indians

Previously, it has been observed that Indian employees among other foreign workers required quite some time to get permanent residency in the US. It would even take longer than a decade at times. However, the US companies have put forth an offer to support their employees.

Since the uncertainty of H-1B work visa extensions, it had become essential for the American companies to take a step to make their skilled working lot stay in the country. Which has resulted in multiple US firms offering to sponsor permanent residency to their Indian employees.

As per the recent study by the National Foundation for American Policy, the rate of rejection for the extension of H-1B work visas have increased about 18 percent since the first quarter of the year 2019. It has increased by 4 percent in 2016 and went up to three times to 12 percent in 2018.

According to the data by the Labor Department, 113,014 permanent residency applications were received by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the organization that processes these applications. This number was about 8.3 percent higher than the Fiscal Year 2018. About 53.2 percent of the applications were made for the Indian citizens and the majority of the applications were from H-1B work visa holders constituting about 68.2 percent of the total.

Taking a look at the analytics, it has been observed that Amazon had filed 3,247 permanent residency applications after holding the second rank in the highest number of H-1B work visa applications in the Fiscal Year 2019. Even Cognizant and Google did not stand back. 2,929 and 2,425 permanent residency applications were filed by Cognizant and Google respectively.

As per the Times report, others in the top ten companies that applied for permanent residency for the employees included Intel, Facebook, Microsoft, Cisco, and Deloitte — besides Indian firms like Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys at number five and seven, respectively – all with more than 1,000 applications each.

Considering the Times reports, the top ten companies that have applied for permanent residency for their employees include Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco and Deloitte. On number seven and five are the Indian firms Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, respectively. Over 1,000 applications from each company have been filed.

Since the court’s refusal to abolish the rule formulated during the Obama-era, that is, the spouses of H-1B visa holders can work in America, it has been a relief to the Indians in the US, even for time-being.

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

The H1-B visa is a long-term visa that is issued to the workers by the US companies hiring them in their firms. Particularly the Indian women have been the beneficiaries of this rule and this has been objectioned by US workers. This is now supported by the Trump administration and is also willing to strike it down.

This rule was put forth by the ex-president of US, President Barack Obama in the year 2015. The rule has allowed work permits to certain H-4 visa holders, mainly the spouses of H-1B work visa holders instead of them waiting for their Green Card to work in the US.

"Accordingly, we reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion," said the federal court on the lawsuit filed by Saves Jobs USA.

According to a study, in the third quarter of 2019-2020, the rejection rate of the H1-B has increased significantly. The US administration led by President Donald Trump has made it harder for the Indian techies to get a job in the States. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has rejected a considerably higher number of applications this year showing a three times increment from 6 per cent in 2015 to 24 per cent in 2019.

A notable hit was taken by the technology firms in India as the H1-B covered a major part of these companies. According to the analysis, the denial rates in the IT companies have been as high as 30 per cent in the first three quarters of 2019-20. These rates never crossed 7 per cent until 2015-16.

This sudden increase in the denials is considered to be a result of an increase in the legal standards by the USCIS and there seems to have been lack of evidence in the rejected applications.

Indian tech giants Cognizant, Wipro, Accenture, Infosys and Capgemini who have about 70 per cent of the H1-B visa holders, have been devastated with these high rejection rates. However, the effects of the rejection rates are not limited to the Indian talent being hired, but the profits of the company will take a hit as well.

With confirmed employment in the United States, the job holders can now apply for a work permit as late as 90 days before the start date of the employment.

The information was revealed by the US Embassy through the following tweet -

"Applying for your work #USvisa? You can apply up to 90 days before the employment start date noted on your I-797 form," the US Embassy tweeted.

The website of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) clarifies that the I-797 form is used to establish a communication with the applicants/petitioners or to convey an immigration benefit.

The H1-B visa has been in the news a lot lately because of the amendments made in the policies and the rules and regulations. It has been indicating that the US requires a supply of highly-skilled Indian candidates. It is a type of US visa for Indians that allows the US-based enterprises to employ Indian professionals as per the requirements of the company and the skill set of the candidates.