Visa suspension

In order to fill a vacuum of highly-skilled low-cost employees in IT and other related domains, the US administration issues a certain number of visas each year which allows companies from outside the US to send employees to work on client sites.
Of these work visas, the H-1B remains the most popular among Indian IT companies. The US government has a cap of 85,000 total H-1B visas for each year. Of this, 65,000 H-1B visas are issued to highly skilled foreign workers, while the rest 20,000 can be additionally allotted to highly skilled foreign workers who have a higher education or masters degree from an American university.
Indian IT companies are amongst the biggest beneficiaries of the US H-1B visa regime, and have since the 1990s cornered a lion’s share of the total number of visas issued each year.
H-1B visas are generally approved for a period of three years for a person, but many visa holders change employers to extend their US stay.

Last year, H1-B visas were suspended by former U.S. President Donald Trump, ostensibly to protect American jobs, already reeling under the impact of the pandemic.
Visas for intra company transfers (L1), exchange visitors (J1), temporary non-agricultural workers (H-2B) and dependents of H1-B holders (H4) were also suspended.

The White House has allowed the 2020 ban on H1-B skilled workers and other temporary visas to expire on March 31.
While the stated reason for Mr. Trump’s suspension was protecting American jobs in the face of unprecedented unemployment last year, the ban did not have its intended impact, according to the preliminary findings of a Wall Street Journal study. The analysis found that businesses employing foreigners “struggled to fill jobs” despite very high domestic unemployment.

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