H-1B spouse visa ban: Trump's plan may push 1 lakh out of jobs

According to a new research, the Trump administration's plan to impose a work ban on spouses of high-skill H-1B visa holders will affect at least 100,000 people. A look at other findings:

H-4 visas are issued to the spouses of H-1B visa holders. Under the previous Obama administration, a special order was issued for H-4 visa holders to get work permits. Indian-Americans were a major beneficiary of this provision. More than one lakh H-4 visa holders have been beneficiary of this rule.

According to the research, the move is likely to cost the economy $250,000 mn-$1 mn per immigrant in lost assignments.

The research findings stressed that such a shift would likely isolate spouses socially, raise domestic tensions and strain the family's financial resources. It would also probably hurt the visa holder's satisfaction and increase the risks of job holders quitting their foreign posting.

The researchers noted that the ban probably "will be more critical and difficult for expatriate families, who had temporarily benefited by the previous presidential administration's immigration policies. Some may have, in this time, bought a home or started their own businesses."

The US started issuing work visa programs since 1952 and were initially crafted to permit US enterprises to recruit foreign employees when qualified Americans weren't available to fit the positions.

According to the US government, visa programs were abused by the companies, particularly India's outsourcing giants, to get less expensive labor. Trump came into office after vowing to overhaul the programs and protect American workers.

Since taking office last January, the Trump administration has been talking about cracking down on the H-1B visa scheme. Trump had promised during his election campaign to increase oversight of H-1B and L-1 visa programmes to prevent their abuse and secure jobs for US citizens.

For the second time this year, the Trump administration has failed to meet its deadline to issue a notification on its decision to terminate the work authorisation of H-4 visa holders.
The Department of Homeland Security had informed a US court in March that it was working to issue a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in June this year.