PM Modi Visits US: Talks on Facilitating H-1B Visa Process and Hiring of Skilled Indian Workers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his visit to the US, discussions on the processing of visa application backlog, and easing the H-1B visa and immigration policy.

Written by: Arjita Gupta

Edited by: Krutarth Ghosalkar

Last Updated: June 22, 2023

As India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the United States to discuss strategic objectives, the Biden Administration is planning to enhance the residency and job positions for skilled Indian workers in the states. The State Department can talk about the number of foreign and Indian workers the country will allow to be eligible for H-1B visas and renew the ones in the US without the need to visit abroad, as well as the pilot program, which can eventually expand in a few years.

In the fiscal year 2022, Indian citizens used the US H-1B program the most and accounted for 73% of the estimated 442,000 H-1B workers. A US official said that they recognize the mobility of people as one of the important assets for the nation and thus, their goal is to sort the visa application processing in a multifaceted approach. The official also revealed that the state department is doing its best to find creative ways to bring necessary amendments and straighten things.

The tentative pilot program may firstly have only small numbers of applications to increase the number over the next one to two years. But there have been no confirmations about these numbers or the steps for the program. The US government every year makes room for 65,000 H-1B visas for organizations looking for skilled workers from other countries. It also had space for 20,000 more visas for workers who possess advanced degrees.

The duration of the visa is for 3 years, after which, it is renewable for the next 3 years. Some firms that use H-1B workers are Meta and Alphabet in the US, India-based Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Amazon. A spokesperson said that if temporary workers from other nations can renew their visas in the US, it will also help liberate the resources for visa interviews in consulates. This week’s delegations in Washington will probably see dedicated discussions about progress in US visa processing.

It will also focus on the initiative to get some updates on the visa application backlog at the US embassies in India, and how the two nations can contribute together to simplify the problem. Another source said that the pilot program could be inclusive of L-1 visa workers. This type of visa is for people transferring for a posting in the US and within the same company. As per the Labor Department, the United States had more than 10 million jobs open due to the inability of people to get the visa to stay in the U.S.

Also, this year, thousands of H-1B visa-holding tech workers were laid off, sending them to find new jobs within a grace period of 60 days or return to their home country. The Biden administration is continuously working to provide easy and improved access to Indians for United States Visa, and trying to sort out the lack of Congress support on the US immigration policy reform. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington stopped processing visas for all countries in March 2020.

And efforts are ongoing to clear this backlog. The situation caused some families to stay away from each other for a long time, and people went on social media to express their grief and frustration. President Joe Biden thus, wants to unite the two largest democracies by quickly solving these issues.