India continues dialogue with the United States on the H-1B visa issue

NEW DELHI: India continues to dialogue with the United States about the H-1B visa, widely used by Indian IT firms, after the Trump administration proposed to amend the program, announced Thursday a senior manager.

"This is a very important subject for us and that is why we have repeated this matter with the United States over and over again," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Raveesh Kumar said. answer to journalists' questions.

Kumar said that recently the issue was raised at the first ministerial meeting between India and the US 2 + 2 held last month attended by Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.

On Wednesday, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) planned to submit their new proposal by January 2019.

DHS said it also proposed to remove from its regulation some H-4 spouses of non-immigrants H-1B as a category of aliens eligible for an employment authorization.

The decision to end the rule could have an impact on more than 70,000 H-4 visa holders who have a work permit.

H-4 visas are issued by the USCIS to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21) of H-1B visa holders.

The DHS said it would propose revising the definition of specialty occupation in order to put more emphasis on getting the best and brightest foreign nationals through the H-program. 1B.

It will also "revise the definition" of employment and the employer-employee relationship to "better protect" American workers and wages, DHS said.

In his remarks Thursday, Kumar said that India was closely linked to the US administration as well as to the US Congress on this issue.

Noting that some bills have been introduced, he said, however, that "it is important to note that none of these bills has been passed so far."

"When we engaged with the United States, we emphasized that our partnership in digital is mutually beneficial," said the spokesman.

"We have highlighted the role played by highly skilled Indian professionals who have really contributed to the growth and development of the US economy," he said.

"And they have also helped the United States maintain a competitive edge in the world in innovation, science and technology."