Congress urges Centre to get time limit extended for Indian H1B visa holders in case of layoff

The Congress on Friday said that the sword of H1B visa job termination looms large on the heads of an estimated 75,000 Indians with the United States giving them only a 60-day period to find a new job in case of a layoff and demanded that Prime Minister Modi led government at the Centre should ensure that the limit for Indian holders of the visa is raised to 180 days.

In a statement, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the Modi government of "failing to secure the safety and livelihood of Indians in America after compromising on 'India First' policy in the HCQ drug."

He said the sword of H1B visa job termination looms large on the heads of an estimated 75,000 Indians, with the United States giving them only a 60-day period to find a new job in case of a layoff.

Surjewala said that there are 3,09,986 Indians working on H1B visa in the USA, and given the COVID-19 lockdown in the two countries, it is logistically impossible for them to come back to India.

"While the COVID-19 pandemic was raising its ugly head in India, we were holding public felicitations for the US President and his entourage. Time for the Prime Minister to ensure that our soft power of 'Namaste Trump' converts into the fair treatment of H1B visa holders in the United States," he said.

He said the US has put American citizens on temporary paid leave or allowed them to work for reduced hours in the wake of the coronavirus threat while Indian H1B workers will have to work for 40-hours per week on payroll.

"Nearly 60,000 H1B visas are generally granted to Indians each year which have already been on a steady decline since the last few years. The rejection rates have gone up as high as 53 per cent for some top IT companies," he said.

Surjewala said the economic slowdown was becoming more and more extreme during the lockdown.

"Just the IT sector contributes nearly 8 per cent to the GDP and the US accounts for two-thirds of the IT services exports. All these 3 lakh jobs, which have been one of the highest contributors to India's growth, are at risk," he said.

Surjewala said that most organisations were even considering terminating the contract and the Modi government should intervene with the help of the Trump administration in finding a solution.

"This has to be taken up on war footing as post-termination, they would have 60 days to find a job, which seems very bleak in these challenging times. Let the Modi government ensure (with its US counterpart) that the extension of the post-job loss limit of H1B visa holder Indians is raised to 180 days instead of the currently stated 60 days. This will give them sufficient time to find an alternate job as the situation improves," he said.

Surjewala said the Modi government should also ensure that the H1B visa holders, who lost their jobs, are covered for COVID-19 and other health insurance free of cost including support to their families.

"We also demand that the Modi government should deliberate with Indian industry confederations like NASSCOM, CII, and FICCI to prevent further H1B job losses," he said.