Relief for spouses of H-1B visa holders: US delays decision on work authorisation for H-4 visa programme

Agencies
March 3, 2018

Washington, Mar 3: The Trump administration has delayed its decision on termination of work authorisation for spouses of the H-1B visa holders, in a big relief to a significantly large number of Indian workers and their families.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a court submission this week said that it would not take a decision on terminating the work authorisation of H4 visa users, spouses of H-1B visa holders, till June as it needs time to review the economic impact of such a decision.

Since 2015, the spouses of H-1B, or high-skilled, visa holders waiting for green cards have been eligible to work in the US on H-4 dependent visas, under a rule introduced by the previous Obama administration.

The DHS was previously scheduled to take a call on it by 28 February.

"Consistent with the government's prior representations, DHS was working to issue an NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) in February 2018.

"However, in January 2018, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the component of DHS responsible for oversight of the H-4 visa programme at issue in this litigation, reevaluated the rule and determined that significant revisions to the draft proposal were necessary,” DHS said in its fresh court submission.

It said the revisions required a new economic analysis which required additional several weeks to perform.

"The changes to the rule and the revised economic analysis require revisions to the projected time-line for the NPRMs publication, and therefore cannot be issued in February,” it said.

"Under the revised timeline, DHS anticipates submitting to the office of management and budget for review and clearance the proposed rule in time for publication in June 2018," it said.

The extension of the decision-making process by four months comes as a temporary relief to the spouses of H-1B visas holders, a significantly large number of whom are Indian workers.

The H-1B programme attracts foreign specialised workers to come to the United States for employment, many of them from India and China.

"We are very hopeful. We want to believe that DHS is re-looking at this because of our efforts,” Jansi Kumar, co-founder of the group Save H-4 EADs, told India-West, a local ethnic Indian newspaper from California.

"They have been very supportive as we tell them about our situation," said Kumar, noting that "members from both sides of the aisle have responded favourably to the organisation's concerns".

Such a court submission by DHS comes as part of an ongoing petition by 'Save Jobs USA', an organisation of IT workers who claim they lost their jobs to H-1B workers.

The organisation has filed a lawsuit against the decision of the previous Obama Administration to give work authorisation to the spouses of H-1B visa workers whose Green card applications have been approved.

An online petition has been launched urging the Congress not to cancel work authorisation of H-4 visas.

"Please do not cancel H4 EAD. Those who are applying for H4 EAD are contributing to American society instead of creating burdens," the online petition says.

"We are talented, highly skilled and experienced individuals. Why should we suffer because we are citizens-in-waiting for 8-15 years? You have agreed to make us citizens, treat us like one.

"Let us work till the broken immigration system is reformed. We are not a burden on social security or Medicare. In fact, we contribute to the US growth. Why should we be discriminated against when you have accepted us for citizenship?" the petition reads.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Manila, Aug 2: The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines has exceeded the 100,000 marks with a record 5,032 new infections registered on Sunday, the Health Ministry's data showed.

With the total cases now reaching 103,185, the spread of COVID-19 in the Southeast Asian nation is steeply rising. The daily growth rate just this Thursday set a record at over 3,800 cases, the next day there were nearly 4,000 new infections detected and on Saturday, over 4,800 cases were detected.

More than 65,000 people have recovered from the ailment, while 2,059 people have died.

The Philippines' epidemiological dynamic mirrors that of many Southeast Asian nations, where COVID-19 infections have only recently begun to climb. 

Most other nations in Europe and the Americas experienced an initial spread of the virus which later tailed off only to begin climbing again after easing of restrictions.

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Agecnies
July 13,2020

Moscow, Jul 13: Russia has become the first nation to complete clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine on humans. Chief researcher Elena Smolyarchuk, who heads the Center for Clinical Research on Medications at Sechenov University, told Russian news agency TASS on Sunday that the human trials for the vaccine have been completed at the university and the volunteers will be discharged soon.

"The research has been completed and it proved that the vaccine is safe. The volunteers will be discharged on July 15 and July 20," Smolyarchuk was quoted as saying in the report.

Though the results have been favourable with respect to the medication’s effectiveness, no further information was provided on when this vaccine would enter commercial production stage.

Russia had allowed clinical trials of two forms of a potential COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology on June 18.

The first vaccine, in the form of a solution for intramuscular administration, was carried out at the Burdenko Military Hospital.

Another vaccine, in the form of a powder for the preparation of a solution for intramuscular administration, was carried out at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.

The first stage of research on the vaccine at Sechenov University involved a group of 18 volunteers and the second group involved 20 volunteers.

After vaccination, all volunteers were expected to remain in isolation in a hospital for 28 days.

Earlier, results of the COVID-19 vaccine tests performed on a group of volunteers in Russia showed that they were developing immunity to the coronavirus.

"The data obtained by the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, proves that volunteers of the first and second groups are forming an immune response after injections of the vaccine against the coronavirus," according to an earlier statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russia has reported 719,449 cases and 11,188 deaths to date.

There are at least 21 vaccines currently under key trials, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The overall number of global COVID-19 cases crossed 12.9 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 5,69,000, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.

As of Monday morning, the total number of cases stood at 1,29,10,357, while the fatalities rose to 5,69,128.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections at over 33 lakh. Brazil came in the second place with over 18 lakh infections. India is third worst affected with over 8.7 lakh people reported to have COVID-19.

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Agencies
July 9,2020

The new visa regulations requiring international students in the US with an F-1 visa to take at least one in-person course or face the prospect of deportation is likely to "cause uncertainties and difficulties" for some students, the Indian Embassy has said.

"These new modifications at a time when many of the US universities and colleges are yet to announce their plans for the new academic year are likely to cause uncertainties and difficulties for some Indian students wishing to pursue their studies in the US," said a spokesperson of the Indian Embassy.

Responding to media queries, the spokesperson said the Indian government has taken up the matter with concerned US officials.

At the India US Foreign Office Consultations held on July 7, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla conveyed India's concerns on the matter to Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale.

According to a recent report of Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), there were 1,94,556 Indian students enrolled in various academic institutions of the US in January this year. Of these 1,26,132 were males and 68,405 were females.

Noting that partnership in higher education is a key component of the strong people-to-people ties between India and the US, the spokesperson said in the last two decades Indian students in American universities and colleges have been the harbingers of a strong partnership between technology and innovation sectors between the two countries.

The spokesperson hoped that the US authorities would provide adequate flexibility in their visa rule, keeping in mind the extraordinary circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic for the Indian students community.

We continue to engage all the stakeholders in the matters, including the US administration officials, Congressional leaders, universities and colleges as well as the Indian students community in the US as we move forward towards the 2020-21 academic year to further strengthen our bilateral partnership in higher education, the spokesperson said.

Announced by the SEVP on July 6, the new rules provide temporary exemptions for nonimmigrant students on F-1 and M-1 visas taking online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the fall semester of the 2020 academic year.

While these modifications do provide some flexibility for US universities and colleges to adopt a hybrid model -- that is a mixture of online and in person classes -- they also restrict international students on F-1 and M-1 visas from taking courses entirely online, the spokesperson said.

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