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Buy American, hire American: No extension of H-1B visas likely to hit India

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United States is considering new regulations aimed at preventing the extension of H-1B visas, predominantly used by Indian IT professionals, as part of United States President Donald Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” initiative.

The move could directly stop hundreds of thousands of foreign workers from keeping their H-1B visas while their green card applications are pending.

The proposal which is being shared between Department of Homeland Security Department (DHS) heads is part of Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” initiative promised during 2016 campaign.

Jonathan Withington, chief of media relations for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in a statement has said,  “The agency is considering a number of policy and regulatory changes to carry out the President’s Buy American, Hire American Executive Order, including a thorough review of employment-based visa programmes,”

Leon Fresco, who served as a deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department in the Obama administration and now represent H-1B workers has said, “This would be a major catastrophic development as many people have been waiting in line for green cards for over a decade, have US citizen children, own a home.”

 

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