United States may court legal trouble with new H-1B proposal
Any move to stop the facility for extension of H-1B visas by the Trump administration in the US could lead to legal challenges, according to immigration lawyers and industry experts who expect intense lobbying could help resolve this contentious issue.
Apart from Indian IT companies, those likely to be affected by any such move include American tech giants such as Google and IBM. These companies also employ workers on H-1B visas, some of whom have been awaiting Green Cards for over a decade, the experts said. These companies may file suits against the US government to protect their employees, most of whom are mid-level or senior managers, the experts added.
Mukesh Aghi, president of the USIndia Strategic Partnership Forum, said the reported proposals are currently just rumours and there has been no official rule. “While we support jobs growth in the US, the current process of tightening H-1B is discriminatory and does have an impact on the broader relationship between India and the US.”
Raja Lahiri, partner for transaction advisory services at Grant Thornton India, said the proposal is a “downside” for businesses and could also have a “socio-political impact” if people are forced to leave.
Such a move will lead to a sort of “self-deportation” of hundreds of thousands of Indian technology workers in the US to “open up” those jobs for Americans, the report said, adding that it was part of the ‘Buy American, Hire American’ executive order signed by Trump last year.