After President Donald Trump announced a new crackdown on immigrants and placed restrictions on legal immigration, major corporations such as Meta and Microsoft convened on Saturday morning and advised all of their H-1B visa holders to remain in the United States for at least 14 days.
According to internal emails obtained by NDTV Profit, the corporations also warned its employees who are already residing outside the United States to return to the nation within 24 hours or face rejection of re-entry.
The emails instructed the overseas employees to obey the instructions for the “foreseeable future”.
Meta instructed its H-1B visa and H4 status holders to stay in the US for at least two weeks, “till practical applications” are understood, and encouraged those now residing outside to consider returning within 24 hours.
Microsoft, on the other side, “strongly” advised its employees in the United States to stay put to prevent rejection of re-entry. It also urged workers outside the country to “do their best to return”.
The H-1B visa category is reserved in the United States for those working in specialty occupations, most notably in technology. They can include software engineers, technical program managers, and other IT experts. They are valid for three years and can be renewed for an additional three years.
On Friday, President Trump hiked the annual price for the H-1B visa for high-tech foreign workers to $100,000. This action will have a big impact on Indians hired by software corporations and other companies.
Trump signed the decree at the White House, saying the “incentive is to hire American workers.” The measure aims to protect American workers while still providing firms with a road to hire “truly extraordinary people” and bring them to the United States, according to the administration.
If the proposals pass legal muster, they will result in massive price rises. The skilled worker visa fee would increase from $215 to $315. The annual charge for investor visas, which are common in several European nations, would increase from $10,000 to $20,000.
The Trump administration launched a Gold Card visa program, offering the Trump Gold Card and Platinum Card for individuals and the Trump Corporate Gold Card for organizations. These cards offer exclusive benefits and aim to replace employment-based visas, which provide avenues to citizenship for professors, scientists, artists, and athletes.
According to government data, India received 71% of awarded H-1B visas last year, with China coming in second at 11.7%.
Source: NDTV
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