COVID-19 Impact | H-1B Visa Holders Don't Know What Is Next

An H-1B visa holder, software engineer by profession and working for an American tech firm, came to India on February 22 for a medical emergency. He was due to return in March but could not due to the lockdown.

All, he wants now is to get back home before May 21. He is among over 1,000 NRIs who are in a rush to go back home before Trump makes any further changes to the guest worker visa rules.

On April 22, US President Trump signed an executive order that banned immigration into the country for 60 days to protect American jobs. There are close to 30 million Americans unemployed currently and set to rise further at the back of COVID-19. The order also said that the department of homeland security and the labor department will look into non-immigration visas such as H-1B in 30 days.

There are approximately 9 lakh H-1B visa holders in the US, the majority of them employed by the tech firms there. Approximately 5,00,000 Indians are waiting in the green card queue to become permanent residents.

This is what is worrying about the Indians who are stuck here.

"Sentiment towards H-1B holders are very hostile. It is unclear what the government would do. So we want to go back just to be safe," pointed out by another NRI, who is currently in Jaipur.

That is why; at least for some of them, the recent evacuation attempt by the Indian government is a welcome move. Currently, 7 flights are leaving from Mumbai and Delhi in May to different locations in the US to bring Indians back. Instead of running empty, Indians who want to travel back to the US can take these flights.

However, there are restrictions. Indians traveling should have a valid visa at least for a year.