US President Donald Trump looks set to sign a new executive order aimed at overhauling work visa programmes like H-1B and L1 - a move that will adversely hit the lifeline of Indian tech firms and professionals in the United States.

The executive order drafted by the Trump administration not only strangulates H-1B and L1 visas, but also ends employment authorisation cards to spouses on such work visas, which was recently introduced by the previous Obama Administration.

The draft of the order was purportedly leaked and published by a news websites yesterday: 'I think with respect to H1Bs and other visa, it is part of a larger immigration reform effort that the President will continue to talk about through executive order and through working with Congress,' White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at a news conference.

A 'leaked draft' of new Donald Trump executive order looks set to hit visas for Indians and their spouses in the US

'You've already seen a lot of action on immigration and I think whether it's that or the spousal visas or other type of visas, I think there's an overall need to look at all of these programmes.

'You'll see both through executive action and through comprehensive measures a way to address immigration as a whole and the visa programme,' Spicer said.

As per the leaked draft order, Trump would reverse former president Barack Obama's extension of the duration of optional practical training work visas, which allowed foreign students to stay in the US a bit longer after completion of studies.

Protesters have already been rallying against the first executive order at JFK Airport in New York, and across the world

Within 90 days of the signing of the executive order, the Secretary of Homeland Security would have to review all regulations that allow foreign nationals to work in the US and determine which of those regulations violate the immigration laws or are not in the 'national interest' of America.

It would also immediately terminate all parole policies.

Trump: Great for India?

The executive order will also ask the secretaries of Labour and Homeland Security to restore the integrity of employment based non-immigrant worker programmes and better protect US and foreign workers affected by these programmes.

The draft order seeks the administration to consider ways to make the process of allocating visas more efficient and ensure that beneficiaries of the programmes are the best and the brightest.

It also proposes to establish a commission or advisory committee to analyse the nation's current immigration policies and their impact on the American society, economy, work force, and the foreign policy and national security interest of the United States.