US To Ease H1-B Visas For Skilled Indian Workers Amid PM Modi's Visit: Report

In a move that could benefit tens of thousands of Indians, the Biden administration is using this week's state visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help some skilled workers enter or remain in the country.

The State Department is expected to announce the programme on Thursday 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 having to travel abroad, according to the Reuters.

The pilot project, to be launched later this year, when fully implemented, would be a big relief to thousands of Indian tech professionals in the United States.

The pilot programme comes as layoffs have rippled through the tech industry in recent months and have hit H-1B visa holders particularly hard, with tens of thousands of foreign workers estimated to have been affected.

The new programme wouldn't apply to laid off H-1B workers, who must leave the U.S. after 60 days if they can't find new employment or are unable to apply to transfer to another visa.

For the last two decades, temporary visa holders have been required to travel to a U.S. consulate abroad to renew their visa.

The much-sought-after H-1B visas are issued for three years at a time. Indian citizens are by far the most active users of the US H-1B program and made up 73% of the nearly 442,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2022.

The Indian-based Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services as well as Amazon, Alphabet and Meta in the U.S. are among prominent companies using H-1B workers visas.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality 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.