The American government is considering a new draft proposal that could lead to the deportation of hundreds of thousands of foreigners living on American soil through H-1B visas. The proposal will affect high-specialty workers waiting for their Green Card.

The proposal, which was circulated as an internal memo in the department of Homeland security, intends to tweak the process of granting extensions to H-1B visa holders whose applications for permanent residency (Green Card) had been accepted, potentially ending the provision.

How it works right now

Currently, when you apply for a H-1B Visa, you are granted a Visa for three years with provisions for three years more and one extension after the additional three years, after which the Visa holders return home. But those who are waiting for a green card have to apply for extensions which can vary from months to years.

The proposed changes

The new proposal gives power to the US citizenship and immigration services (USCIS) officials to decide on the extension for those waiting for a green card. It is left to the complete discretion of the officials whether to extend it to three years or not to extend it at all. This could lead to large scale self deportation of foreign workers effectively paving the way for American Jobs.

“Buy American, Hire American”

This proposal is the latest in a series of new proposals meant to tighten the US’ immigration policy. One of them was to roll back the H-4 EAD, an Obama era policy to attract and retain highly skilled foreign workers by granting work authorization to spouses of H-1B visa holders awaiting Green cards.

Indians likely to be affected the most

The US issues around 85,000 non-immigrant H-1B visas every year — 65,000 to foreigners hired abroad and 20,000 to foreigners enrolled in advanced degree courses in US schools and colleges. This decision will mostly affect Indians who make up an average 70% of the visas issued annually. An estimated 500,000 to 750,000 Indian H-1B visa holders can be sent home without cause due to this proposal.

The proposal, if it comes into play will affect the 700,000 Indians living on American soil and also affect the hiring policy of tech companies in the country. Most foreign workers are hired by Tech companies like Microsoft and Google. These tech biggies will be affected the most.

While the American arm of Indian companies like Infosys and TCS will also be affected, the impact will not be that huge. Unlike their American counterparts who hire Indians on a long term basis and therefore have a higher chance for applying for a green card, Indian companies tend to rotate their workers and send them home at the end of the stipulated period.