Sushma Swaraj sought bipartisan support for H-1B visas in a meeting with the US Congressional Delegation
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today flagged the H-1B visa issue as a "strong concern" during a meeting with a visiting US Congressional delegation and sought bipartisan support for it.
The 9-member US congressional delegation from the house committee on science, space and technology is led by its chairman Lamar Smith, ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.
"Swaraj flagged the issue of H-1B visa as a strong concern and sought bipartisan Congressional support for the same," he said in a series of tweets.
Sushma Swaraj had earlier brought the issue up with
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during their first bilateral meeting last month.
During his recent visit to the US, Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley had also raised the issue during his meetings, and had said "those coming from India on H-1B visas are high value professionals, who contribute immensely to the US economy. They are not illegal economic immigrants, about whom there is concerns in the US. They come here legally."
The US must decide appropriately while taking a decision on its visa policy, he had asserted.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations. It is mostly sought after by Indian IT professionals.
Premium processing of H-1B visas was temporarily suspended in April due to a huge rush of new applications, but it resumed earlier this month.
Ms Swaraj also welcomed the strong desire of the delegation to strengthen cooperation in strategic, economic, science and technology, and space sectors.
She lauded the positive role of the US Congress in developing India-US strategic relations, Kumar tweeted.