WASHINGTON (TIP): US President Joe Biden on Thursday, April 1, let the ban on foreign workers visa, H-1B, lapse as the notification issued by his predecessor Donald Trump expired, a move which is likely to benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals. Amidst a national lockdown and the COVID-19 crisis, Trump in June last year issued a proclamation that suspended entry to the US of applicants for several temporary or “non-immigrant” visa categories, including H-1B, arguing that these visas presented a risk to the US labor market during the economic recovery. On December 31, Trump extended the order to March 31, 2021, noting that an extension was warranted as the pandemic continued to disrupt American lives, and high levels of unemployment and job loss were still presenting serious economic challenges to workers across the US.
Biden did not issue a fresh proclamation for the ban on H-1B visas to continue after March 31.
He had promised to lift the suspension on H-1B visas, saying Trump’s immigration policies were cruel.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
The expiry of the Trump’s proclamation would now result in the issuing of H-1B visas by American diplomatic missions overseas that would result in US companies bringing in talented technology professionals inside the country.
No new proclamation was issued by Biden till Wednesday midnight, resulting in the automatic end to the ban on issuing of fresh H-1B visas.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House would not renew a ban on H-1B, and other work-based visas imposed last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that is set to expire on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a Republican Senator from Missouri on Wednesday urged Biden to issue a fresh proclamation to continue with the H-1B visa ban.
“I write today to urge you to extend the freeze on temporary foreign worker entries into the United States that, without intervention, will expire today,” Senator Josh Hawley wrote in a letter to Biden.
“The presidential proclamation suspending entry of certain temporary workers into the US has protected Americans suffering from the pandemic-induced economic crisis. With millions of struggling Americans out of work – and millions more desperate to make ends meet – now is not the time to open the floodgates to thousands of foreign workers competing with American workers for scarce jobs and resources,” he wrote.