Don't block work permits to spouses of H-1B holders: Trump admin to court

An H-4 visa is issued to the immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa-holders

In a major development, the Trump administration has urged a federal district court not to block an Obama-era rule allowing certain categories of spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the United States.In a submission before the US District Court in Washington this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued that the American technology workers, who had challenged the 2015 ruling on giving work permits to H-4 visa-holders, have not been irreparably harmed by such work authorisation.

An H-4 visa is issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to the immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa-holders, most of whom are Indian IT professionals. It is normally issued to those who have already started the process of seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident status. The DHS, in its submission on May 5, said the argument by Save Jobs USA on behalf of American technology workers "only speculates about potential economic harm to its members, based on five-year-old affidavits".

In its lawsuit filed in 2015, Save Jobs USA had argued that the regulation issued by the Obama administration to provide employment authorisation for certain H4 dependent spouses harms their members, who are American technology workers....Read More

‘No more birth tourism’: US to impose visa restrictions for pregnant women

“Visa applicants deemed by consular officers to be coming to the US primarily to give birth will now be treated like other foreigners coming to the US for medical treatment”

The Trump administration is coming out Thursday with new visa restrictions aimed at restricting “birth tourism,” in which women travel to the US to give birth so their children can have a coveted US passport.

Visa applicants deemed by consular officers to be coming to the US primarily to give birth will now be treated like other foreigners coming to the US for medical treatment, according to State Department guidance sent Wednesday and viewed by The Associated Press. The applicants will have to prove they are coming for medical treatment and they have the money to pay for it.

The State Department planned to publicise the rules Thursday, according to two officials with knowledge of the plans who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The rules will take effect Friday. The practice of coming to the US to give birth is fundamentally legal, although there are scattered cases of authorities arresting operators of birth tourism agencies for visa fraud or tax evasion. And women are often honest about their intentions when applying for visas and even show signed contracts with doctors and hospitals.

The Trump administration has been restricting all forms of immigration, but the president has been particularly plagued by the issue of birthright citizenship — anyone born in the US is considered a citizen, under the Constitution. He has railed against the practice and threatened to end it, but scholars and members of his administration have said it’s not so easy to do…Read More

Bad news for US visa seekers: New rules could disqualify half of applicants

The rule is part of Republican Trump’s efforts to curb both legal and illegal immigration, an issue he has made a cornerstone of his presidency

US President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled a sweeping rule on Monday that some experts say could cut legal immigration in half by denying visas and permanent residency to hundreds of thousands of people for being too poor.

The long-anticipated rule, pushed by Donald Trump’s leading aide on immigration, Stephen Miller, takes effect Oct. 15. It would reject applicants for temporary or permanent visas if they fail to meet high enough income standards or if they receive public assistance such as welfare, food stamps, public housing or Medicaid.

“The Trump administration is trying to bypass Congress and implement its own merit based-immigration system. It’s really a backdoor way of prohibiting low-income people from immigrating,” said Charles Wheeler of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network Inc.

The rule is part of Republican Trump’s efforts to curb both legal and illegal immigration, an issue he has made a cornerstone of his presidency.After the rule was announced, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) said it would file a lawsuit to stop it from taking effect. The group’s executive director said the rule was racially motivated. The state attorneys general of California and New York threatened to sue…

No country caps on Green Cards: US House passes bill; India to benefit

Indian IT experts are most exceedingly terrible sufferers of current movement framework which forces a 7% per nation amount on portion of Green Card

The US legislators Wednesday passed a bill went for lifting the present seven percent nation top on issuing Green Cards, a move which would profit a huge number of very gifted Indian IT experts.

A Green Card enables an individual to live and work forever in the US. Gone by the US House of Representatives, the bill, on being marked into law, would extensively abbreviate the horrifying hold up of skilled experts from nations like India who have connected for perpetual residency in the United States.

Indian IT experts, the vast majority of whom are exceptionally talented and gone to the US for the most part on the H-1B work visas, are the most noticeably terrible sufferers of the present migration framework which forces a seven percent for each nation share on apportioning of the desired Green Cards or perpetual legitimate residency. Lifting the per-nation top would mostly profit experts from nations like India, for whom the hang tight for Green Card is over 10 years.

A portion of the ongoing investigations have said the sitting tight period for Indian IT experts on H-1B visas is over 70 years. Close to seven percent of the visas might be issued to locals of any one autonomous nation in a monetary year, as per the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. As indicated by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), this bill builds the per-nation top on family-based foreigner visas from seven percent of the complete number of such visas accessible that year to 15 percent and dispenses with the seven percent top for business based migrant visas…