Re-entry to the United States is challenging these days even for legal immigrants, amid President Trump’s immigration crackdown at ports of entry across the country. Green Card holders, who are lawful permanent residents in the US, are not exempt to the scrutiny that the CBP officers have intensified to assess the immigrant status and re-admissibility of foreign nationals (aliens) returning from their home countries or a trip abroad. Precisely, the Trump administration’s no-compromise efforts to fix loopholes in immigration and security has become a gnawing concern for legal immigrants too.

Elderly Indians among Green Card holders, who are flying back to USA after a winter trip to India, are in for an unprecedented surprise on arrival, as the CBP officers are interrogating them and inspecting their documents. Some cases have been reported wherein senior citizens faced intense pressure to sign Form I-407 to voluntarily surrender their Green Cards on arrival at US airports, according to immigration attorneys.

This AI-generated image is for illustration purpose only

Some elderly Green Card holders spend winter months in India as they are not yet accustomed to bone-rattling winters in America. They are among the targets of ‘Green Card abandonment’. The US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) states that those who spend more than 365 days in a calendar year outside the US are subject to ‘Green Card abandonment.’ At the same time, they can exercise their right to challenge this in court.

What is more worrisome is that a period of 180 days outside the US, even a shorter absence, has become a premise for the CBP officers to heavily scrutinize Green Card holders, senior citizens in particular.

What are the rights of Green Card holders at the US ports of entry in the above scenario? Immigration attorneys are receiving such queries every day. “Generally, an individual’s Green Card cannot be revoked at the port of entry unless he/she voluntarily signs Form I-407 to surrender it,” Kripa Upadhyay, an immigration attorney in Seattle, was quoted saying in an article by The Economic Times. “Only an immigration judge can take away a Green Card, so individuals should not sign Form I-407,” said another Indian-origin attorney in the US.

Mostly, Green Card holders’ absence from the US for 180 days or more in a calendar year, and their failure to maintain strong ties to the US are triggering CBP officers who have legal rights to inspect and interrogate immigrants returning from their home countries. At the same time, Green Card holders reserve the right to a hearing before an immigration judge if there are attempts to revoke their lawful permanent residence status, like secondary inspections, legal notices, unjust detention on arrival, and threats of deportation. A lawyer can be hired to represent their case during a court hearing.

Immigration attorneys caution Green Card holders against making frequent travel and spending more than 180 days outside the US in a year. If an individual has history of secondary inspections, he/she may come under the CBP scanner on return from overseas travel. It is recommended that Green Card holders maintain tangible evidence of their strong ties to the US, like employment, family, property, or filing tax returns during their overseas stay for months. They can show the evidence during a routine inspection or additional scrutiny by the US Customs officers.

As part of the immigration law enforcement by President Trump, Green Card holders must have a re-entry permit for re-admission to the USA after spending 365 days or more abroad. In view of this, immigration attorneys advise Green Card holders to apply for a re-entry permit before flying out of the US for a year. CBP officers have the right to deny re-admission to you for not having a re-entry permit. In short, you should carefully plan a long absence from the US soil to maintain your LPR status.

Immigration attorneys advise Green Card holders to cooperate with the CBP officers if their electronic devices, luggage, and/or social media accounts are examined. The US Customs officer may not need a warrant to check your devices and luggage for prohibited items, documents, or anti-US sentiments that could impact your re-entry to the country after a period of stay abroad. Everything from your belongings to travel history and social media communications is under the CBP scanner these days.

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On one hand, Elon Musk-led DOGE team is working towards reducing federal deficit, and on the other hand, President Trump is coming up with ways to fuel the US economy. One such move is Trump’s Gold Card – the quickest route to US citizenship for the affluent. The Trump 2.0 administration introduced a new immigration initiative – ‘Gold Card’ program – with a hefty price tag for foreign millionaires seeking to bypass the Green Card backlog. The American Dream would soon be elusive to the less affluent.

This AI-generated image is for illustration purpose only

What is Trump’s Gold Card for rich immigrants?

Scheduled to be launched in the next two weeks, the Gold Card program promises to lay the easiest and shortest pathway to the most coveted US citizenship at a whopping cost of $5 million. The new US investor visa is designed to simplify the immigration process and reduce bureaucratic delays for high-net-worth foreign individuals. President Trump’s $5-million Gold Card visa is not an alternative to the existing EB-5 Visa. Rather, it aims to put an end to EB-5 Visa which the Trump government dismisses as “full of nonsense, ridiculous, and fraud.”

Another objective of replacing the EB5 investment visa with the new ‘Gold Card’ is to pump trillion dollars of foreign investment into the US economy. At a recent press conference, Trump projected that issuing approximately one million Gold Cards could inject around $5 trillion into the US economy. He went on to suggest that if up to ten million cards were issued, the total investment might reach an astounding $50 trillion—a move he believes would significantly lessen the nation’s $35 trillion debt burden.

Impact of Trump’s Gold Card Visa on Indians in USA

Many Indians on H1B, L1, and O1 visas have obtained lawful permanent residency through the EB5 investor program. A switch from a non-immigrant work visa to an immigrant visa like EB5 became their favorite path to secure a Green Card and live the American Dream. The EB-5 visa requires Green Card seekers to create minimum 10 jobs in USA by investing $800,000-$1.05 million, one-fifth of USD 5 million for the new ‘Gold Card’ visa. With EB-5 Visa being replaced with an exorbitantly priced Gold Card, non-immigrant Indians may find it impossible to obtain a Green Card through investment.

Also Read: Indian American CEO shares his short journey from H1B visa to Green Card

The premium US residency model or Gold Card signals a paradigm shift in Trump’s take on immigration. This mirrors the global trend of wealth-based immigration among countries vying to attract high-net-worth individuals. The UAE, Portugal, and Australia have been actively promoting golden visa schemes. Henley & Partners’ 2025 Global Residence Program Index ranks Greece as the top destination in this space, followed by Switzerland and Portugal.  The US’ entry to this competitive space, with Trump’s Gold Card program, commodifies lawful permanent residency and American citizenship.

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With the H1B visa registration window for fiscal 2026 opening on March 7, the US Department of Homeland Security brought new H1B visa rules to reform the system for both American employers and foreign workers. Effective from January 17, 2025, the H1B program modernization rule redefines ‘specialty occupation’, enhances transparency, reduces visa fraud, assures seamless visa extension, and updates the lottery process.

Beneficiary-Centric Selection Process

Unlike previous years, multiple employers cannot submit applications for the same candidate. USCIS has implemented enhanced measures to prevent duplicate filings by employers for the same beneficiary and ensure that each applicant has an equal chance. Any employer submitting multiple registrations for the same candidate will face disqualification from the H1B lottery system.

New Definition of ‘Specialty Occupation’

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has refined the definition of “specialty occupation” as part of the H1B visa modernization rule in 2025. Previously, possessing a bachelor’s degree in a specific field might have sufficed. Now, your degree must be directly related to the position and the job responsibilities. Employers can list multiple acceptable fields of study, but each must have a clear connection to the job description.

Regular Worksite Inspections

To prevent H1B visa fraud and misuse, the USCIS’s Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) unit will conduct more frequent worksite inspections, including at third-party client sites. Employers who deny these inspections risk having their petitions denied or revoked. It is essential for companies to maintain detailed records and ensure full compliance with H-1B regulations.

H1B Extension Approval without Re-evaluation

In the new H1B visa rules, USCIS officers are now instructed to defer to prior approvals when deciding on H-1B extension requests. Only if there has been no material change in the previous approval. This means if your job, employer, and circumstances remain unchanged, your visa extension request is more likely to be approved without re-evaluation. However, all required documents must still be provided.

Other H1B Visa Updates for Indians

• The H1B registration fee has increased from $10 to $215 per applicant. This move is intended to deter non-serious applicants and reduce unnecessary applications.
• Employers seeking to extend the H-1B worker’s stay must now submit proof that the worker has maintained their previous visa status. This requirement also applies to H-4 dependents.
• To ensure fairness and prevent fraud, USCIS will conduct more frequent audits and reviews of H-1B registrations during the month of March 2025. Employers must maintain accurate records and provide truthful information to avoid penalties.

The H-1B visa program is evolving under the Trump administration, bringing both positive reforms and stricter compliance measures. Undoubtedly, with the new H1B visa rules for fiscal 2026, the focus is shifting towards a fair and merit based selection process. Whether President Trump brings additional challenges or opens up new pathways, it remains to be seen. For now, the key is to stay informed, act promptly, and prepare thoroughly.

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Is the US President above the law? Could he scrape off a constitutional guarantee to those born on the American soil? Is it legal for the President to violate or deny a constitutional amendment? Is an executive order above the Constitution?

These questions are making waves on the international fore, as Donald Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship for the US-born children of immigrants, right after he took oath as 47^th President of America. This is part of Trump’s hardline immigration policies which could not take shape during his first term in the White House’s Oval Office. In USA, birthright citizenship is a 150-year-old constitutional principle that says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States.”

PC: Freepik.com

“We’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous. It has to end…” Trump said rhetorically during his election campaigns promising to tighten the noose around immigration, while seemingly unaware of the fact that America is one of the 30 countries (including Canada) offering birthright citizenship, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

The US Constitution was amended 150 years ago (the 14^th Amendment in 1868) to include and protect the right to citizenship for those born or naturalized on the American soil. But President Trump’s executive order expounded the argument, “The 14th Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States…”

Who will be affected by Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship?

The Trump order eliminating birthday citizenship will affect not only undocumented immigrants, but also legal non-immigrants including H1B, H4, B2, F1, F2, L1, L2 and other visa holders. Undeniably, a majority of legal non-immigrant visa holders in the US are Indians.

As per the presidential order briefing, kids born after 30 days from the date of the order issued shall not be granted US citizenship if their fathers are neither US citizens nor lawful permanent residents, and if their mothers are lawfully but temporarily present in the US, like on a tourist or student visa. President Trump has already directed federal agencies not to issue American passports for and not to accept US citizenship documents issued by state governments for those kids.

The presidential order further states “the privilege of US citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”

It is evident from the above that Trump’s executive order to end US birthright citizenship may also affect Indian families stuck in the Green Card backlog, as they are neither lawful permanent residents nor US citizens. Uncertainty looms large over the future of the US-born kids of a million Indians stuck in the Green Card backlog, which is being anticipated to have nearly 22 lakh Indians holding various US work visas by the year 2030.

President Trump’s plan to erase the birthright citizenship guarantee in the 14^th Amendment of the US Constitution has split up the nation into two different hemispheres; one supporting the POTUS, with their immovable faith in his vision, and the other condemning his plan as a ‘blatantly unconstitutional attempt to sow division’, thereby encouraging hate crimes against immigrants in the US.

Even Trump’s defenders, who are collectively referred to as immigration hardliners, are divided in opinion. One group of them finds birthright citizenship a ‘great magnet for illegal immigration in the USA’, while the other group has thumbed down the executive order to end birthright citizenship for the US-born children of immigrants. Notably, the American Civil Liberties Union has denounced Donald Trump’s interpretation of the 14^th Amendment of the US Constitution.

Interestingly, a survey in 2015 by the Pew Research Center found that 37% of Americans questioned the relevance of birthright citizenship, before Trump rose to the presidential power. The number of babies born to undocumented immigrants meteorically rose to a whopping 370,000 in 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. The antagonists of birthright citizenship sarcastically call those babies ‘anchor babies’.

Nearly 200,000 Indian American children from a Microsoft engineer to ‘DALCA Kids’ (Deferred Action for Legal Childhood Arrivals) are caught up in the turbulence of immigration in the Trump regime. President Trump’s plan to end birthright citizenship may shatter the ecosystem of US immigration, according to legal scholars.

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Nearly 7.19 lakh Indians are awaiting their employment-based green cards as of September 2021, noted a study published by the Cato Institute. Shockingly, the wait time is estimated to be 90 years (more than the average lifespan of a person!) if no measures are taken to address bureaucratic delays in green card issuance. 

These figures underline the necessity of reforms in the US immigration system, which unfortunately is keeping skilled immigrants away from the jobs needing them. Meanwhile, data also reveals that 2,30,000+ green cards under family and employment categories were unused in the period between 1992 and 2022. So, in an attempt to clear the long-pending green card backlog, the US President’s Advisory Commission has given its green signal to the proposal that unused green cards be recaptured. This move is expected to provide relief to over 1.4 million immigrants, who have been waiting for their green cards for years.

Picture Credit: Fileright.com

Why is this Green Card Recapture Recommended?

The US has a limit on annual green card issuance to immigrants. (A Green Card or Permanent Resident Card is an official document granting its bearer the permission to reside and work in the US permanently). This limit is set at 1,40,000 for employment-based green cards and 2,26,000 for family-sponsored green cards. Further, there is a 7% country-based quota system for these categories, which doesn’t take into account either the country’s population or the demand for green cards from them. So, the US doesn’t process more than 25,620 family and employment-based green cards annually to immigrants of a particular country despite receiving a high volume of applications, which only keeps increasing year after year. This led to accumulation of green card petitions, especially from countries like India and China.

Indian-American entrepreneur, Ajay Bhutoria, also a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, recommended the recapture of the green cards that have remained unissued due to administrative complexities and delays. Reallocating these lost opportunities to those waiting in hope can help unburden the government by facilitating the clearance of some backlogged applications every year in addition to processing the annual limit of green cards for these categories. 

What does Recapture of Unused Green Cards Mean to Indian Immigrants Affected by Green Card Backlog?

As is well-known, a vast number of Indians fly to USA every year in pursuit of their American Dream. Most of them are usually H1B visa holders with ambitions to settle permanently in the US. Their applications for an employment-based green card are likely to get stuck in the mire of backlogs created by the per-country quota system. Situations turned so hopeless in the past for certain immigrants including Dr. Pranav Singh, who took a flight back to India being fed up with the long green card wait period.

Data suggests that the US issues around 7000 to 9000 employment-based green cards to Indians annually. If the dependents of primary applicants are excluded, then approximately 2000 H1B visa holders from India get green cards while the number of H1B work visas issued every year is close to 85,000. Even if we assume that only one fourth of them apply for a green card in a particular year, much less than one fourth of the total applicants would receive it and the rest would slip into the mounting backlog. 

The excruciatingly long wait time for Indians to get green cards is a result of this widening gap between the number of applications received and the country-based cap on green card issuance. Under these circumstances, recapture of green cards unused over the years can prove to be beneficial to thousands of Indian immigrants waiting to get their hands on the most-coveted green cards.

Although the green card recapture recommendation has been approved at the White House, it doesn’t take effect until it gets a Congressional nod. So, it remains to be seen how long it takes for this bill to translate into action. Hope the recommendation for recapture of unused green cards won’t meet the fate of the RELIEF Act that sought to keep immigrant families together and the failure of the EAGLE Act that sought to phase out the per-country limit on the issuance of employment-based green cards to Indians.

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Non-immigrant visa holders felt the ordeal of being stuck in the green card backlog intensely during the pandemic, as their entry to the US was heavily restricted by President Biden’s proclamations curbing the import of COVID-19 cases from the affected countries. Consequently, thousands of H1B, H4, L1 and other non-immigrant visa holders were stranded in India, and many of them were separated from their families in the United States. They bore the brunt of long wait times for green cards. If they had got the magic wand (Green Card0, they would have spread a magic mat in the air and travelled to the US flying past all the restrictions.

In a recent development of attempts at phasing out per-country limits on issuance of employment-based green cards, two Senators – Kevin Cramer and John Hickenlooper – introduced a new version of the EAGLE Act 2021. Cleared by the US House Judiciary Committee in April this year, the legislation is now titled EAGLE Act 2022.

Picture Credit: YesPunjab.com

Amid a row over the pandemic-induced travel ban on India in 2021, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren and Republican John Curtis had brought a bipartisan legislation onto the table. The Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment Act (HR 3648 EAGLE Act 2021) was aimed at removing the obstacles that are responsible for the mounting backlog of green card applications. Needless to say the obstacles include the fixed 7% country-wise limit on the allocation of employment-based green cards. The HR 3648 EAGLE Act 2021 also addressed the need to raise the per-country cap on issuance of family-based green cards to 15%.

Not the country of origin but skills should be the basis of hiring foreign workers and issuing green cards to them – is the basic premise of the Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment Act. Over the years, the US Congress saw several bills seeking phasing out of the per-country cap in order to ensure fair allocation of employment-based green cards. But, none of the bills made a cut. The last bill was the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 1044, S386) that gained momentum when Donald Trump’s days were numbered at the White House.

The final version of the combined HR 1044, S386 served as the foundation of the newly introduced bill, HR 3648 EAGLE Act 2021. President Biden’s US Citizenship Act of 2021, which promised a lot to those stuck in the green card logjam, has not yet clicked with the Senate since it was introduced within a few days of Biden’s swearing in to the presidential office. Hence, John Curtis and Zoe Lofgren’s ‘Equal Access to Green cards for Legal Employment Act’ was another big attempt at removing per-country caps on green card allocation.

The HR 3648 EAGLE Act 2021 was vocal about certain advantages to the US economy that fair allocation of employment-based green cards would have ensured. “The basic framework for allocating immigrant visas dates back to the middle of the 20th century and was last seriously updated in 1990,” Congresswoman Lofgren said. “The effect of the per-country caps is that countries with small populations are allocated the same number of immigrant visas as that to skilled labor from a relatively large-population country,” she further said.

“The bipartisan act, if signed into a law, will lead America towards a system that de-emphasizes birthplace and better serves the nation and its economy,” Zoe Lofgren opined while explaining the benefits of the EAGLE Act 2021.

The bill requires the Department of Labor (DOL) to set up a ‘Searchable Internet Website’ where all H1B jobs will be posted for unrestricted public viewing. The website should come up within 180 days from the signing of the bill into a law. The jobs posted on the website will remain live for 30 days from the day of posting and must have such details as education, experience and training required; salary details; employment location and benefits; and application process. Each H1B job post should have a title, a description and occupational classification.

The bill will enable American employers to focus on roping in the best talent from overseas and building great products that will create employment in the country and strengthen the local economy, according to Republican John Curtis.

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After one year of having assumed presidential responsibilities, Joe Biden is all set to put the Trump-era public charge rule on a reverse gear. Introduced in the Trump regime of immigration-related uncertainties, the hardline public charge rule curbed immigrants’ claim to permanent residency on grounds of limited self-sufficiency. Since the 1800s, there has been a law that foreign nationals are inadmissible to the country and immigrants are ineligible for green cards if they lack self-sufficiency, or if they are likely to become a ‘public charge’ (economic burden on the country). The Trump administration defined ‘self-sufficiency’ as a fundamental criterion for individuals seeking entry to the US, noncitizens seeking legal permanent residency, and non-immigrant visa holders seeking extension of stay in the US.

On February 17, President Biden proposed new regulations to soften the ‘public charge’ definition and limit public charge determinations, as the Department of Homeland Security’s Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made it clear that the 2019 public charge rule is not consistent with the United States’ constitutional values. He said, “Under this proposed rule, we will return to the historical understanding of the term ‘public charge’ and individuals will not be penalized for choosing to access the health benefits and other supplemental government services available to them.”

The Trump administration defended the public charge rule by arguing that it would help non-immigrants and certain immigrant groups become self-sufficient in the best interests of the US economy. The then Secretary of DHS, Kirstjen Nielsen said, “Those planning to immigrate to the United States must establish their ability to meet their housing and healthcare needs and other requirements, relying on their own capabilities and resources as long as they will be staying here.” However, humanitarians, civil rights activists and Democrats condemned the 2019 public charge rule as a deliberate act of discrimination against low-income immigrants.

The Trump-era public charge rule, if enforced, would have affected mostly the green card seekers who entered the US through family-based immigration. Furthermore, H4 visa holders would have been required to prove their self-sufficiency despite having no work authorization. The breakup of many immigrant families would have been the worst repercussion of the public charge rule.

Joe Biden’s proposal, which will soon be open to public comments, seeks to provide ‘fair and humane treatment’ to noncitizens by redefining “likely at any time to become a public charge” as “likely to become primarily dependent on the government for subsistence.” Biden’s version of the public charge rule will not consider those receiving noncash benefits, among the federal aid programs, as a ‘public charge’. The federal government’s noncash benefits include the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, housing and transportation vouchers.

The new public charge rule will also not include Social Security, pandemic assistance, government pension, disaster aid received under the Stafford Act, and benefits in the form of tax credit or deduction. Some categories of non-citizens, including refugees, asylees, special immigration juveniles, temporary protected status (TPS) applicants, and petitioners under the Violence Against Women Act will be exempt even from the new public charge rule.

However, the Department of Homeland Security will continue to consider certain federal benefits as public charge inadmissibility determinations. These benefits are Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Cash assistance for income maintenance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), program, and long-term institutionalization at government expense.

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If the United States’ Budget Reconciliation Bill becomes a law, applying for an H1B visa will be a costly affair. It will help silence the critics of H1B visa holders and shatter the myth that this nonimmigrant visa pools cheap labor from foreign markets into America. Transiting into H1B status from an F1 visa or getting an H1B visa petition directly approved is a crucial passage into the US – the cradle of American Dream – for many skilled Indians in STEM, according to the US immigration system. The House Reconciliation Bill, if approved, will cost employers more than before for the filing of H1B petitions.

The latest version of the bill has proposed a supplemental fee of $500 on top of the current fees for an H1B petition. This is just one of the proposed additional fees for various immigration related petitions. The Budget Reconciliation Bill seeks to increase the existing fee for employment-based permanent residency by an additional $800 and the existing fee for a family-based Green Card (Form I-130) by $100.

Spouses of certain non-immigrants seeking employment authorization, and foreign students seeking OPT will have to pay an additional fee of $500 as proposed in the bill. A supplemental fee of the same amount will be levied on an application for adjustment of status. An application to change or extend nonimmigrant status (Form I-539) will cost more $500. The House Reconciliation Bill in its current form requires you to pay more $500 for applying to renew an expired or about-to-expire Green Card.

The bill requires educational institutes to pay a supplemental fee of $250 for each F1 and M1 visa. The same supplementary amount is proposed for a J-1 exchange visa.

Given the analysis of government and attorney fees by the National Foundation of American Policy, filing an H1B visa petition for the first three years or an extension for an additional three years will cost a company not less than $31,800 including the proposed fee increase. Below is a breakup of the cost to be incurred upon approval of the Budget Reconciliation bill:

• Application fee: $460
• Proposed additional fee: $500
• Attorney fees: $1500 to $4000
• Added attorney fees for a Request for Evidence: $2000 to $4500
• Scholarship and training fee: $1500 ($750 for a company with 25 or fewer employees
• Anti-fraud fee: $500 (on initial petition)
• Premium Processing (optional): $2500
• “50/50” fee (for a company with workforce over 50% H1B/L1): $4000 (on initial petition)
• Visa application (based on reciprocity): $190 ($0 – $800)

(The data source: National Foundation of American Policy)

Though the proposed fee increases will largely impact small businesses, it discards the prevailing myth that US employers import foreign talent on H1B as cheap labor. On the contrary, conglomerates are willing to pay additional fees for skilled foreign workers, according to immigration attorneys. H1B workers in STEM professions earn more than their American counterparts having the same profile, according to economists from the Public Policy Institute of California.

President Biden’s budget reconciliation bill calls for a $100 billion investment to introduce reform measures in the US immigration system and clear Green Card backlogs. If the proposed additional fee increases are approved, it will help expedite the LPR process for hundreds of thousands of Indians stuck in the Green card limbo. This would be the most significant immigration reform to be credited to the Biden administration. Unlike Dr. Pranav Singh, no H1B workers will have to give up on the American Dream due to sheer frustration over the inordinate delay in the green card processing.

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Since the pandemic began, time has been a roller-coaster ride for many non-immigrant US visa holders. They are back to where they were early in 2020. In the wake of the pandemic, India suspended all international flights, inbound and outbound, leaving thousands of non-immigrant visa holders stranded and separated from their families in the US until the launch of Vande Bharat Mission expanding to air bubble travel. A little more than a year later, they have met with the same fate in the aftermath of the US government’s entry restriction for certain travelers from India, effective this May 4.

Picture Credit: Worldnewsera.com

Ashu Mahajan, a 44-year-old H1B professional from New Jersey, is left helpless in India and pleading with the US government for return to his family because of the selective move restricting entry to certain travelers from India – which his wife calls ‘an irony’. Anu Sharma, an H4 visa holder from California, has also got stuck in India for an indefinite period of the US travel restriction. A virus can transmit through anyone, a US citizen or a non-US citizen; it does not differentiate. We feel we are once again penalized because we are in the long queue for green cards,” she told the American Bazaar.

Ashu Mahajan, who has been working as an architect on H1B in the US since 2008, had gone to India to look after his 75-year-old, ailing father in mid-April. His short trip was extended as his father contracted the virus and succumbed to it after a few days of hospitalization and intubation in New Delhi. He cannot travel back also because the US consulates have cancelled in-person appointments in India. He can’t re-enter the US unless he attends an in-person appointment for visa stamping. With his dad being no more, Ashu is all alone in India and longs to be his with wife and kids in Scotch Plains.

Another H1B visa holder whose wife is expecting next month in California is stuck in India due to the travel impasse between the two countries. Out of the sheer concern about his pregnant wife being alone, he is desperately looking for a way out of the restriction. Similar is the fate of many others who had traveled to India for visa stamping and family emergency got stuck there as the US government’s entry restriction disrupted their return travel plans amid the soaring numbers of positive cases in India.

Inundated by calls of anxiety from those stuck in India and their separated families in the US, immigration attorneys opine that the selective travel restriction does not serve the purpose. The entry restriction should not be based on one’s citizenship, LPR status, or visa type. It should be either equal to all arriving from India or revoked immediately, according to attorneys dealing in immigration and visa services.

President Biden’s proclamation restricting travel from India, beginning May 4, mostly affects H1B and H4 visa holders whose spouse is neither a US citizen nor a lawful permanent resident. They are not subject to the proclamation if they are parents of a US-born kid. However, there is a way out for some of those who are not exempt from the restriction on entry into the United States.

Any non-immigrant visa holder/foreign national/non-US resident whose entry to the USA is in the national interest, as determined by the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security, may qualify for a National Interest Exception (NIE). Nonimmigrant visa holders whose travel to the US is critical to the purposes including but not limited to national security, civic infrastructure, public healthcare and humanitarianism are needed to demonstrate that they qualify for a National Interest Exception. They can contact the nearest US Embassy or Consulate in India prior to traveling or returning to the US. A National Interest Exception, if granted, is valid for a single entry within 30 days from the date of approval.

• U.S. Embassy New Delhi:   NewDelhiNIE@state.gov
• U.S. Consulate General Chennai: ChennaiNIE@state.gov
• U.S. Consulate General Hyderabad: HyderabadNIE@state.gov
• U.S. Consulate General Kolkata: KolkataNIE@state.gov
• U.S. Consulate General Mumbai: MumbaiNIE@state.gov

You must provide the following information in your email seeking a National Interest Exception:

• Last name
• First name
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The post Nonimmigrant Visa Holders like Him who travelled for Visa Stamping or Family Emergency are Stuck in India amid US Travel Ban appeared first on Travel to India, Cheap Flights to India, Aviation News, India Travel Tips.

The initial registration for H1B visa lottery, the most sought-after passage for Indian IT professionals to enter the United States – the land of American Dreams – is supposed to begin on March 9, 2021 for the fiscal 2022. However, H1B visa is caught in a new storm in the new political regime. Immigration Voice, a nonprofit group voicing the concerns of high-skilled Indian immigrants who have been stuck in green card backlogs for years, is seeking a temporary halt to the issuing of fresh H1B visas to Indians (who are not in the USA).

The influential immigration advocacy group has released a statement for the Biden administration, requesting that the issuing of new H1B work visas should be paused for Indian nationals as long as the discriminatory per-country cap on employment-based green cards remains in effect for high-skilled Indian immigrants. It has sent apprehensions to those waiting to grab the most popular US work visa in 2022.

Immigration Voice has urged President Joe Biden to exercise the administrative authority under INA Section 2129(f) to keep Indians, who are not physically present in the US, out of the ambit of fresh H1B visas in the fiscal 2022. The Indian American lobby group has also requested the Biden administration that “immigrants from India should no longer be treated as indentured servants in the United States.”

Nearly 70% of 85,000 new H1B visas that the US allots every year are issued to Indian workers, whereas Indian immigrants receive only 8400 of the 120,000 green cards in the employment category per year. This discriminatory practice has led to the mounting of over one million petitions for employment-based green cards, thereby increasing the wait time to over 195 years for Indian immigrants in the USA. If the current system is not reformed, the wait time will become 436 years by the fiscal 2030, the California-based Immigration Voice said.

Aman Kapoor, President of Immigration Voice, uninhibitedly described the current discriminatory employment-based green card allotment system as an ‘Indian Exclusion Act’.

He went on to say, “It means that if Vice-President Kamala Harris’ mother had come to the United States today, under such a system, she would never have gotten a Green Card in her lifetime. The course of Kamala Harris’ life would have been entirely different if she had been preoccupied with her mother’s possible deportation, as opposed to living her life as an American.”

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On the contrary, President Biden’s immigration reform bill, which was sent to Congress on his first day in office, appears to welcome more foreign workers into the United States. At the same time, the proposal for immigration overhauls appears to lay a faster path to US citizenship for immigration communities, including undocumented immigrants.

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