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US Visas
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he plans to start selling a gold card visa with a potential pathway to US citizenship for USD 5 million, seeking to have that new initiative replace a 35-year-old visa programme for investors. If we sell a million, that's USD 5 trillion dollars, Trump said during the first meeting of his second-term Cabinet, suggesting that the new revenue generated for federal coffers could be used to pay off the country's debt. I think we will sell a lot because I think there's really a thirst, Trump said of demand from the business community to participate. The president said of recipients that they'll be wealthy and they'll be successful and they'll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people, and we think it's going to be extremely successful. Companies can buy gold cards and, in exchange, get those visas to hire new employees, Trump said. No other country can do this because people don't want to go to other ...
The initial registration period for the H-1B visas, the most sought-after by Indian IT professionals, for fiscal 2026 will commence on March 7 and close on March 24, a federal agency has said. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The initial registration period for the most sought-after H-1B visas for foreign guest workers for fiscal 2026 will open at noon Eastern Time (10:30 pm IST) on March 7 and run through noon Eastern Time (10:30 pm IST) on March 24, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said on Wednesday. During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each ...
Visa appointments at the US Embassy in Colombia were cancelled Monday following a dispute over deportation flights from the US that nearly turned into a costly trade war between the two countries. Dozens of Colombians showed up outside the US Embassy in Bogota and were handed letters by local staff that said their appointments had been cancelled due to the Colombian government's refusal to accept repatriation flights of Colombian nationals. Others with visa appointments for Monday received similar email messages. Obtaining an appointment can take up to two years. Tensions between Colombia and the United States escalated Sunday after President Gustavo Petro wrote an early morning message on X saying he would not allow two US air force planes carrying Colombian deportees to land in the country. He had previously authorized the flights. Petro also shared a video that showed another group of deportees reportedly arriving in Brazil with shackles on their legs. He said Colombia would onl
A group of Afghan nationals arrived in the Philippines Monday to process special immigrant visas for their resettlement in the United States, as part of an agreement between Manila and Washington. The Philippines agreed last July to temporarily host a US immigrant visa processing centre for a limited number of Afghan nationals aspiring to resettle in America. Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza said the Afghan nationals who landed in the Philippines on Monday were provided entry visas. She said they had completed extensive security vetting and undergone full medical screenings prior to their arrival. The US government will cover the costs for the Afghan nationals' stay in the Philippines, including their food, housing, security, medical and transportation expenses, she said. She didn't specify how many Afghans arrived or how long the visa processing will take. Under the Philippines' rules, visa applicants can stay for no longer than 59 days. A senior Philippi
A federal judge on Thursday struck down a Biden administration policy that aimed to ease a path to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens. The program, lauded as one of the biggest presidential actions to help immigrant families in years, allowed undocumented spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to apply for a green card without first having to leave the country. The temporary relief from deportation brought a brief sense of security to some 500,000 immigrants estimated to benefit from the program before Texas-based U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker put it on hold in August, days after applicants filed their paperwork. Barker ruled Thursday that the Biden administration had overstepped its authority by implementing the program and had stretched the legal interpretation of relevant immigration law past its breaking point. The short-lived Biden administration initiative known as Keeping Families Together would have been unlikely to rem
India and the US on Friday discussed ways of enhancing cooperation on a wide range of issues such as extradition, mobility of students and professionals, safe and legal migration and protection of vulnerable women and children, according to officials. The discussions took place during the 11th bilateral Consular Dialogue. The Indian delegation led by KJ Srinivasa, Joint Secretary (CPV) in the Ministry of External Affairs, hosted the US delegation led by Ambassador Rena Bitter, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular Affairs. "The Dialogue reinforced the strong people-to-people ties and cooperation that both countries share across consular issues of mutual interest. Both sides discussed ways of enhancing cooperation on a wide range of issues such as extradition, mobility of students and professionals, safe and legal migration, protection of vulnerable women and children and enabling smooth travel of their respective nationals," a statement by the US Embassy here said. "They welcomed
The US has announced a steep increase in fees for various categories of non-immigrant visas like the H-1B, L-1 and EB-5, the most popular among Indians. The fee hike, first after 2016, will come into force from April 1. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The EB-5 programme, launched by the US government in 1990, enables high-net-worth foreign investors to obtain a US visa for themselves and their families by investing a minimum of USD 5,00,000 in a US business that helps create 10 jobs for American workers. To come into force from April 1, the new H-1B application visa fee, which is form I-129, has been increased from USD 460 to USD 780. The H-1B registration will increase from USD 10 to USD 215, but from next year. The fee for L-1 vis
The US has announced a major overhaul of its annual lottery for the H-1B speciality occupation visas, popular among Indian IT professionals, to curtail the potential for fraud and improve and streamline the registration system. Separately, the US on January 29 has formally launched a pilot programme to renew the much sought-after H-1B visas domestically, a move that is likely to benefit thousands of Indian tech professionals. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The new overhauled system, among other things, includes the provision of a beneficiary-centric selection process for registrations by employers. As a result, unlike in the past when multiple applications by an individual often resulted in abuse in fraud of the system, the H-1B vis