Trump Urged To Suspend H-1B Visa Program

A US body representing American technology workers has urged President Donald Trump to suspend for this year the H-1B visa program, the most sought-after among the Indian IT professionals, to protect their interests amidst the massive layoffs in the country because of the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

This H-1B, a non-immigrant visa, allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require technical or theoretical expertise. Companies depend on it to hire thousands of employees each year from countries like China and India.

US Tech Workers have written to US President Trump saying unemployment claims had gone up to three million in the previous week, with projections showing that this could rise further by 30%.

“We urge you to pause the H-1B visa program that would bring in 85 thousand workers this year. Suspend the recently approved addition of additional 35,000 workers for the H2B visa,” it said.

While the H-1B visa is primarily used to bring in highly skilled workers to the US, the H-2B visa is used mainly for farmworkers, primarily from Latin America.

The US now has the highest number of cases in the world at 1,90,000 and more than 4,000 deaths.