<p class="title">The US is considering new regulations aimed at preventing the extension of H-1B visas, predominantly used by Indian IT professionals, as part of president Donald Trump's "Buy American, Hire American" initiative, a media report has said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The move could directly stop hundreds of thousands of foreign workers from keeping their H-1B visas while their green card applications are pending.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The proposal which is being shared between the Department of Homeland Security Department (DHS) heads is part of Trump's "Buy American, Hire American" initiative promised during the 2016 campaign, US-based news agency McClatchy's DC Bureau reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It aims to impose new restrictions to prevent abuse and misuse of H-1B visas, besides ending the provision of granting extension for those who already have a green card.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The act currently allows the administration to extend the H-1B visas for thousands of immigrants, predominantly Indian immigrants, beyond the allowed two three-year terms if a green card is pending," the report said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The idea is to create a sort of 'self- deportation' of hundreds of thousands of Indian tech workers in the United States to open up those jobs for Americans," it said, quoting a source briefed by Homeland Security officials.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The agency is considering a number of policy and regulatory changes to carry out the President's Buy American, Hire American Executive Order, including a thorough review of employment-based visa programmes," said Jonathan Withington, chief of media relations for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).</p>.<p class="bodytext">The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is typically issued for three to six years to employers to hire a foreign worker. But H-1B holders who have begun the green card process can often renew their work visas indefinitely.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The proposed changes would have a dramatic effect particularly on Indian visa holders considering more than half of all H-1B visas have been awarded to Indian nationals, the report said, quoting the Pew Research Center report.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This would be a major catastrophic development as many people have been waiting in line for green cards for over a decade, have US citizen children, own a home," said Leon Fresco, who served as a deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department in the Obama administration who now represent H-1B workers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Fresco estimates more than 1 million H1-B visa holders in the country are waiting for green cards, many of whom are from India and have been waiting for more than a decade. </p>
<p class="title">The US is considering new regulations aimed at preventing the extension of H-1B visas, predominantly used by Indian IT professionals, as part of president Donald Trump's "Buy American, Hire American" initiative, a media report has said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The move could directly stop hundreds of thousands of foreign workers from keeping their H-1B visas while their green card applications are pending.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The proposal which is being shared between the Department of Homeland Security Department (DHS) heads is part of Trump's "Buy American, Hire American" initiative promised during the 2016 campaign, US-based news agency McClatchy's DC Bureau reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It aims to impose new restrictions to prevent abuse and misuse of H-1B visas, besides ending the provision of granting extension for those who already have a green card.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The act currently allows the administration to extend the H-1B visas for thousands of immigrants, predominantly Indian immigrants, beyond the allowed two three-year terms if a green card is pending," the report said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The idea is to create a sort of 'self- deportation' of hundreds of thousands of Indian tech workers in the United States to open up those jobs for Americans," it said, quoting a source briefed by Homeland Security officials.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The agency is considering a number of policy and regulatory changes to carry out the President's Buy American, Hire American Executive Order, including a thorough review of employment-based visa programmes," said Jonathan Withington, chief of media relations for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).</p>.<p class="bodytext">The H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.</p>.<p class="bodytext">It is typically issued for three to six years to employers to hire a foreign worker. But H-1B holders who have begun the green card process can often renew their work visas indefinitely.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The proposed changes would have a dramatic effect particularly on Indian visa holders considering more than half of all H-1B visas have been awarded to Indian nationals, the report said, quoting the Pew Research Center report.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This would be a major catastrophic development as many people have been waiting in line for green cards for over a decade, have US citizen children, own a home," said Leon Fresco, who served as a deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department in the Obama administration who now represent H-1B workers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Fresco estimates more than 1 million H1-B visa holders in the country are waiting for green cards, many of whom are from India and have been waiting for more than a decade. </p>