The Joe Biden administration will make it easier for Indians to live and work in the United States, using Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit this week to help some skilled workers enter or stay in the country, three sources told the development news agency. Reuters said.
Modi will arrive in America on 21st June 2023 and receive a warm welcome from diaspora Indians.
According to the report, the US State Department may soon announce on Thursday (2nd June 2023) that a small number of Indians and other foreign workers on H-1B visas will be able to renew those visas in the US without going abroad.
It is part of a pilot program that could expand over the coming years, sources told Reuters.
Indian nationals are the most active users of the US H-1B program and account for 73% of the approximately 442,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2022. "We all recognize that the mobility of our people is a huge asset for us," said another US official. "So our goal is to approach it in a multifaceted way.
The US State Department is already working hard to find creative ways to change things."
A US State Department spokeswoman declined to comment on questions about which visa types would be eligible or when the pilot would begin. Plans for the pilot program were first reported by Bloomberg Law in February.
"The pilot will start with a small number of cases with the intention of scaling the initiative over the next one to two years," the spokesperson said, declining to be defined.
Phases are subject to change and are not finalized until they are announced. The White House declined to comment.
Each year, the US government makes 65,000 H-1B visas available to companies seeking skilled foreign workers, as well as an additional 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees. Visas are valid for three years and are renewable for another three years.
Modi, on his first visit to the US, led a historic yoga program at the UN headquarters in New York on the occasion of the 9th International Day of Yoga and also held meetings with several thinkers and businessmen.
