H-1B visa approval made tough by Donald Trump administration

Washington : The Donald Trump administration on Friday announced a new policy, making approval of H-1B visa tougher, a move that will hugely impact Indian IT firms.

As per new policy, any company will have to make one more clarification to prove that its H-1B employee at a third-party worksite has specific and non-qualifying speculative assignments in a specialty occupation. 

The H1B visa offers temporary US visas allowing companies to hire skilled labour to fill up vacant spaces due to shortages of qualified American workers. 

Indian IT companies are among the major beneficiaries of the H-1B visa policy and with the new move, it will make things a little difficult. 

A significant number of American banking, travel and commercial services depend on on-site IT workers from India to get their job done. 

The new move announced yesterday through a seven-page policy empowers the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to issue H-1B visas to an employee only for the period for which he/she has worked at a third-party worksite. 

The latest policy memorandum is a part of President Donald Trump's 'Buy American and Hire American Executive Order' and the directive to protect the interests of US workers, the USCIS said. 

The new guidelines will come into effect immediately and is likely to impact most people as H-1B visa filing season is about to begin.

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