BENGALURU : The US Courts have set aside the immigration and H-1B visa rules proposed earlier by the Trump administration, a move that could once again enable entry of Indian professionals aspiring to take up employment in the US.
On Friday, a US district Court ordered a full-reinstatement of an earlier programme that protects undocumented immigrants (Indians being a major constituents) from deportation.
A 2017 Donald Trump’s Executive order had sought to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DA CA), which was struck down by the US Supreme Court in June.
A US Federal Judge has now directed the Department of Homeland Security to start accepting applications for fresh renewals as well as to extend the time of relaxation, which is currently two years.
Under the DA CA law, the immigrants who were brought into the US as children are offered a two years period for deferring deportation or obtaining a workpermit in the US. Nearly 6.5 lakh Indians are currently the beneficiaries of this programme.
The US lobby, trade groups and lawmakers defending the rights of immigrants have argued that deportation of the young people from the country will have a devastating impact on the country’s economy since a sizeable number of these immigrants now constitutes the workforce in the US.
Earlier, another US District Court of North California overthrew two rules proposed by Donald Trump which sought to block hiring of H-1B visa holders by firms.
The new rules which were introduced sought to increase the wages of H-1B recruits at par with the US hires, which meant a hike of 40-50 per cent.
“We welcome the court decisions that recognize the importance of the high skill visa programs to the US; and that the Interim Final Rule issued previously did not hold legal statute. This will help U.S. businesses access talent critical to the economic recovery phase in the post- COVID world,” said Nasscom.