The H-1B visa is issued for three years at a time. (Representational)
The US plan to announce in-country renewable H-1B visas during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maiden state visit will ensure that Indian professionals - who are issued the lion's share of such visas every year - are spared the trouble of having to leave the country every time they need to get the document renewed.
The H-1B visa, issued for three years at a time, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies use it to hire thousands of employees from India and other countries every year.
Until 2004, some categories of non-immigrant visas, particularly the H-1B, could be renewed or stamped inside the US, news agency PTI reported. For renewal of H-1B visas since then, foreign workers had to go out of the US - mostly to their own country - to get the extension stamped on their passport.
This was a big hassle, particularly at a time when the wait time for some visas is over two years.
Under the pilot programme being planned by the US, some Indian and other foreign workers on H-1B visas will be able to renew those visas within the country, without having to travel abroad, said a Reuters report. The programme may be expanded later.
Indians are by far the most active users of the US H-1B program and made up 73% of the nearly 4.42 lakh H-1B workers in the 2022 fiscal, the report said.
"The United States Department of State is going to launch a pilot to adjudicate domestic renewals of certain petition-based temporary work visas later this year, including for Indian nationals, with the intent to implement this for an expanded pool of H-1 and L visa holders," a senior Biden administration official was quoted in the PTI report as saying.
The programme would be eventually broadened to include other eligible categories, the official said, adding, "It is good for people in India, good for people in the United States, really good for our businesses."