A year ago, Republican frontrunner Donald J. Trump said he called his credit card company call center to check if employees were from India.
“I said to the person, ‘Where are you from?’ I wasn’t really checking on my card. I was actually finding out if this was true. So I called up under the guise I’m checking on my card, said, ‘Where are you from?’ ‘We are from India.’ ‘Oh, great. That’s wonderful. Thank you very much,'” Trump said.
That candidate, who promised to ban Muslims, deport undocumented immigrants, secure borders and fix the immigration system, won the elections. His promise to build a “huge, tall wall” has started, the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants is under way, and the immigration office has now decided to suspend expedited processing for H1B guest worker visas.
Indian nationals are the largest group that benefits the most from H1B visas, most of which are sponsored by information technology companies all across the U.S. The U.S. grants at least 65,000 H1B visas every year in addition to 20,000 for those earned U.S. masters degree.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Friday that it would temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B petitions and that may last up to 6 months.
Petitioners may submit a request to expedite an H-1B petition if they meet certain criteria such as humanitarian reasons and emergency situations.
H1B visa is granted for 3 years and can be extended another 3 years. H1B visa holders can apply for permanent residence if they work at least 5 years in the U.S. with that visa.
The USCIS said the temporary suspension will help reduce overall H-1B processing times, complaining that it has currently been unable to process due to the high volume of incoming petitions and the significant surge in premium processing requests over the past few years.
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