How Indian techies will benefit from US H-1B renewal pilot programme

In a move aimed at benefiting a large number of Indian techies, the United States will begin in December a pilot process for domestic renewal of certain categories of H-1B visas. If the pilot is successful, H-1B visa holders will just have to mail their visas to the State Department, and will not have to travel outside the US to their home countries for renewals. 

Point to note: The visa renewal programme is only for work visas and is intended for people who are living long-term in the US but want to renew their visa without going back overseas.

The pilot will address around 20,000 work visa renewals initially. The programme was proposed in February and formally announced in September when Prime Minister Narendra visited the US. 

The move is aimed at cutting visa-related costs and delays and relieving backlog issues.

The visa renewal pilot programme is one of multiple measures the US State Department is looking to add or continue with the aim of driving down wait times for travel to the US, Bloomberg Law reported, citing officials.

In an interview with PTI, Julie Stufft, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services, said, "In India, the demand (for US visas) is still very high. The wait time of six, eight and 12 months is not what we need and (it is) not indicative of how we view India."

"We want to make sure that Indian travellers can get appointments as quickly as possible. One way we are doing that is through the domestic visa renewal programme, which is focused very much on India. We are piloting that," she said.

Over a period of three months, which begins in December, the State Department will issue 20,000 visas to foreign nationals who are already inside the country.

"We will do 20,000 in the first group. The vast majority of those will be Indian nationals living in the US and we will expand as it goes on. Because Indians are the largest skilled group of workers in the United States, we hope that India will benefit quite a bit from this programme and it will prevent people from having to travel back to India or anywhere for a visa appointment to get their visa renewed. It will allow our missions in India to concentrate on new applicants," Stufft said.

A federal register notice will be issued soon, which will describe all of the steps that need to be taken and who is eligible to apply in the first tranche and lay out those instructions.

"We are doing these visas here in the United States. So, the idea is for a visa to be mailed from the United States to us in Washington. We print the visa and process the visa, put it in the passport and send it back to someone in the United States," Stufft said.

"So (that) the people don't have to go to either Mexico or Canada or back to India or anywhere (else) to get that visa renewed. That is something that will be laid out very clearly in this federal register notice that comes out in a few weeks," she added.

"The DOS’ announcement is a light at the end of the tunnel for so many foreign national workers whose lives have been put on pause due to exceptionally long visa processing times," said  Daryanani Law Group, a boutique immigration law firm.

Why this matters? 

The highly-anticipated roll-out of a stateside visa renewal program by the DOS could be pivotal for companies bringing workers into the US and individuals coming to work in the US., especially in light of the challenges experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath," said Kirsten Kelly, Partner, Immigration Law at KPMG Canada.

 Currently, all visa applicants are required to exit the United States, and schedule interview appointments at U.S. consular posts abroad.  Even if granted an interview waiver, the visa applicant must leave the U.S. and be physically located in the consulate’s jurisdiction. 

"A stateside program will save certain H-1B visa applicants countless hours of travel and money spent on travel abroad, as they will no longer be required to exit the United States and visit a consular post for the renewal of an H-1B visa," added Kellly.

There is also hope that this programme will alleviate consular backlogs and reduce delays that have resulted in prolonged visa appointment wait times and processing.

Over one million H-1B holders to get impacted 

Indian-American community leader Ajay Jain Bhutoria termed the move by the State Department "significant".

As commissioner to the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Bhutoria had made such a proposal, which was accepted and recommended by US President Joe Biden.

"I am happy to see the recommendation I presented on behalf of immigration subcommittees on the Commission for H-1B visa stamping in the USA finally being implemented," he said.

This relief will ultimately impact over one million H-1B holders, a significantly large number of whom are Indians, he said.

Nature of the Programme, as per KPMG 

The initial details for the program have been released and are as follows:

1. The programme will be limited to H-1B principal applicants only;
2. The programme will be limited to nationals of countries that are not subject to reciprocity fees, one of which will be India;
3. The programme will have certain eligibility requirements along the lines of the interview-waiver program;
4. The programme will be available for 20,000 applicants initially; and
5. The programme will involve voluntary participation.

"The understanding among the immigration community is that this programme is just the beginning of a much more expansive visa-renewal program that will involve additional visa types and be open to additional applicants.  It is widely appreciated that the DOS will be offering a much more efficient and safer method of carrying out visa renewals as an alternative to required international travel," said Alexander Tonic, Associate at KPMG Canada.