With the swearing-in of Joe Biden as the President of the United States, the uncertainty has gone from among the Indians living in America, which is a second home to a large number of Indians.
During four years of Trump Administration, Indians could not decide whether Trump was good or bad for them. His policies, however, made many Indians either relocate to some other countries or come back to India finally.
The Indians in the US are expecting a new wave of immigration and changes visa rules including increasing the number of high-skilled visas and doing away with the cap on country-wise employment-based visas.
Changes every now and then in visa policies, impacted Indian professionals in the US. Going by Biden’s election manifesto, it is most likely that the new president would come out with favorable policies for the spouses of H-1B visa holders.
Most likely there would be a modification in high-skilled temporary visas to align with the current labour market and removal of the restriction on the number of employment-based visas by country.
Indians have a reason for this hope. Biden’s campaign policy documents said that high-skilled temporary visas should not be used as a deterrent while recruiting workers who are currently in the US for popular occupations.
Trump’s June 2020 order had suspended the H-1B visas as well as other foreign work visas for the rest of the year. New limitations on the H-1B non-immigrant visas were introduced in October 2020 with options of H-1B applications are approved only for qualified petitioners and beneficiaries.
In the backdrop of restrictions on Ph.D. graduates in STEM fields, the Biden Administration proposes green cards to international graduates of Ph.D. programmes in the US should. A positive impact on the US economy is expected out of this move.