Vijay Chauthaiwale writes to US envoy to India on ‘predicaments of H1-visa holders’

New Delhi [India], July 17 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party Foreign Affairs in-charge Vijay Chauthaiwale on Friday wrote to Kenneth I Juster, the US Ambassador to India, highlighting predicaments of H1-visa holders due to the recently announced restrictions by the US government on H1 and H4 applications and even routine renewals.
“As you must be aware, a significant number of dependents of H1 visa holders are stranded in India as the US Embassy and Consulates have offered only limited services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally a large number of minor dependents of such individuals – minors who maybe US citizens and passport holders – have not been able to return to homes in the US because a parent (usually a mother) who has held an H4 visa and is dependent on an H1 spouse has not been able to return. Some of the families have been in India for several months now,” Chauthaiwale said in the letter.
“I am enclosing a representative list of about 300 individuals affected and suffering emotional trauma due to these factors. I am sure there are many more. In the past few days, social media platforms have reported this as a widespread humanitarian problem.”
It further read, “I fully understand that issuing visas and permitting entry to categories of foreigners is the sovereign right of a country. Even so, given the desperate situation in which some of the dependents and their families find themselves, I would urge you to explore avenues for an imaginative solution, by way of an exemption or any other mechanism that may be appropriate.”
US President Donald Trump on June 23 had prolonged a ban on US employment permits to year-end and broaden it to include H1-B visas used widely in the tech industry to ensure American workers take first priority as the nation starts recovering from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“President Trump is extending the pause on new immigrant visas through the end of the year to ensure we continue putting American workers first during our ongoing coronavirus recovery,” the White House said.
“President Trump is building on this measure with an additional pause on several job-related non-immigrant visas — H-1Bs, H-2Bs without a nexus to the food-supply chain, certain H-4s, as well as Ls and certain Js — preserving jobs for American citizens,” it added. (ANI)