H-1B visas are temporary work visas for people with special qualifications.
New York:
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that in order to clear a backlog of regular H-1B visa applications, it is suspending for six months a programme that allowed some companies to jump to the head of the queue for quicker processing of H-1B visas by paying a special fee.
This is not a suspension of the H-1B visas, but only of the "Premium Processing", which allows companies to pay $1,125 to go to the top of the line ahead of those waiting for applications to be processed, the USCIS said on Friday.
"This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H-1B processing times", it added.
H-1B visas are temporary work visas for people with special qualifications and it is used mostly by Indian techies.
The "Premium Programme" suspension is to come into effect from April 3.
Under "Premium Processing", a decision is made on H-1B application within 15 days, while the regular applications take more than three months - period that has lengthened because of the surge in "Premium Processing" applications.
US President Donald Trump, since taking office on January 20, has followed a strict immigration policy. He temporarily banned migrants and refugees from seven-Muslim dominated countries in the Middle-East and Africa - Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan. The policy was criticised and protested against all over the world and the US judiciary eventually struck it down.
Mr Trump, in various his various addresses, has said that his administration will follow a 'Hire American, Buy American' policy which has affected many Indian companies and prospective students. Last week, the killing of an Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas has also troubled the Indian-American community.
This is not a suspension of the H-1B visas, but only of the "Premium Processing", which allows companies to pay $1,125 to go to the top of the line ahead of those waiting for applications to be processed, the USCIS said on Friday.
"This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H-1B processing times", it added.
H-1B visas are temporary work visas for people with special qualifications and it is used mostly by Indian techies.
The "Premium Programme" suspension is to come into effect from April 3.
Under "Premium Processing", a decision is made on H-1B application within 15 days, while the regular applications take more than three months - period that has lengthened because of the surge in "Premium Processing" applications.
US President Donald Trump, since taking office on January 20, has followed a strict immigration policy. He temporarily banned migrants and refugees from seven-Muslim dominated countries in the Middle-East and Africa - Syria, Libya, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan. The policy was criticised and protested against all over the world and the US judiciary eventually struck it down.
Mr Trump, in various his various addresses, has said that his administration will follow a 'Hire American, Buy American' policy which has affected many Indian companies and prospective students. Last week, the killing of an Indian engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla in Kansas has also troubled the Indian-American community.
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