External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said the U.S. Congress had not passed any Bills that could put curbs on issuing H-1B visas for Indian IT professionals.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Ms. Swaraj said that there was no “hanging sword” over Indian community members employed under H-1B visa or L1 visa categories.
Dialogue with U.S.
“Four Bills have certainly come to the U.S. Congress but they have not been passed so far. We are conducting a dialogue with the U.S. at a very high level regarding this ... We are making all efforts (through diplomatic channels) to ensure these Bills are not passed,” Ms. Swaraj said. “So there is no reason to worry about it as of now,” she said explaining that the visa policy of the U.S. had always varied. The Minister pointed out that even before Donald Trump became President, the U.S. had “flip-flopped” on the H1B visa policy.
“In 1990, when H-1B visas were first introduced, only 65,000 visas were issued. In 2000, it was raised to 1,95,000, which was called the Visa Reform Act. In 2004 the number of these visas was again reversed to 65,000 by the U.S. under another Visa Reform Act. So there has been a flip-flop on this policy even before Donald Trump government,” she said.
