Unstamped visa holders, new applicants in a fix over Trump's order

Around 1,500 non-resident Indians, who travelled for family emergencies and annual vacations are stranded in India since the lockdown

In February, 30-year old Anjali, an H4 visa holder, came to Hyderabad to attend to her ailing father, who eventually passed away. Soon after, when she was scheduled to have her visa stamped, India enforced the first lockdown on March 25, and the US Consulate in the country also shut down. 

"I'm waiting for my visa to get stamped and hoping to reunite with my husband and five-year-old son back in New Jersey. The separation is taking a toll on my son's psychological state," says Anjali, who sees no end to her ordeal with US President Donald Trump's latest proclamation on non-immigrant visas. 

Take the case of Vinod, a software engineer working in Plano, Texas who had come to visit his parents back in Mumbai in March. Even though the H1B visa he holds is valid till 2022, the recent orders may play spoilsport in his return. "I already have a job there, so I'm not sure how I'm preventing the recently unemployed Americans from getting jobs. I have a car loan, house mortgage to repay. My employer is unhappy with me working out of India for the past three months," he says. 

Vinod's wife and one-year-old daughter are currently in the US.

H-1B visas are meant for immigrant workers in specialty occupations while H4 visas are issued for their dependent immediate family members. The US government issued over 188,000 H1B visa and 125,000 H4 visas in calendar year 2019, according to its Bureau of Consular Affairs website. Major beneficiaries in both the cases were Indians.

Trump signed a proclamation late on Monday to restrict H-1B and other non-immigration visas until the end of 2020.

The United States Embassy in New Delhi and the country’s four missions in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad have been closed since March 16 due to the Covid-9 outbreak. A group of NRIs had already petitioned the US Congress to include US embassies in India as essential services.

According to an online petition filed with the US Congress, around 1,000-1,500 non-resident Indians (NRIs) who are stranded in the country due to inaccessibility to the embassies while US President Trump's travel ban has made things worse.

Netra Chavan, who runs one of the largest Facebook groups dealing with issues on H-1B and H4 visa issues, has pressed for electronic visa services such as online interviews for the stranded NRIs to help them reunite with their families.

However, the ban till December-end is likely to affect new H-1B visa holders who may arrive at the US under the sponsorship of Indian companies.

"Based on the current circumstances, it will be not before October 2022 for the new batch of H-1B visa holders to arrive in the US (by default)," said Rajiv Dabhadkar, founder of knowledge worker advocacy group National Organisation for Software and Technology Professionals (NOSTOPS). "The available three months of filing and processing time until April 1, 2021 (after lifting of the ban by December-end), will be inadequate for Indian companies who will have to prove existing employment along with relevant documentation for the new H-1B petitions."

The visa issue was one of the trending topics on social media on Tuesday with a lot of C-suite executives and industry experts expressing their disapproval.