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Highly-skilled professionals from other countries who work in the United States will soon be able to renew their H-1B visas without having to leave the US, impacting hundreds of thousands of Indians working in specialised fields.
A year ago, the US Department of State had started a pilot project to test the process. It involved approximately 20,000 eligible participants who meet the requirements listed in the US Federal Register.
The pilot programme proved to be a success, and hence, the renewal of H-1B visas will not require the applicant to travel back to their home country for a stamp of renewal. This was a long-pending concern raised by professionals under this visa programme, most of whom are Indians. Besides the inconvenience of traveling half way around the world and spending lakhs of rupees on air tickets, the process was a tedious one involving the applicant to wait for a confirmed visa appointment which often led to long wait-times and subsequent delays.
The aim of the pilot project was to make the renewal process fast and convenient.
In the declaration made in its year-end press statement, the US Department of State said the pilot project for H-1B renewal "allowed many specialty occupation workers from India to renew their visas without leaving the United States. This pilot program streamlined the renewal process for thousands of applicants, and the Department of State is working to formally establish a US-based renewal program in 2025."
Though the new process has been confirmed to start this year, a date from which the it will officially begin is yet to be announced.
This comes at a time when there is an intense debate over the H-1B visa and its job market impact for American citizens. The hard-right have urged incoming President Donald Trump to end the programme along with his other plans of curbing immigration. Many argue that the H-1B visa holders "take away American jobs" and are a "threat to western civilisation".
However, Donald Trump and his top officials including Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have backed the H-1B visa programme saying "America needs talented people", and the H-1B allows for the world's top talent to live and work in the US, which helps the United States stay ahead of the global curve on technology, research, and healthcare.
India tops the list of H-1B visa holders globally, most of whom work in the tech industry, followed by medical and research. According to US State Department data from 2022, as much as 77 per cent of 3,20,000 H-1B visa applications went to Indians. In 2023 too, out of 3,86,000 visas, more than 72 per cent were issued to Indian nationals.
At 3,31,000 student visas in 2024 alone, Indians now account for the highest number of international students pursuing a professional degree or higher education in the United States.
The US State Department further said that in the last four years, visitor numbers from India have increased by five times, and more than two million Indians traveled to the United States in the first eleven months of 2024, a 26 percent increase over the same period in 2023.