Dark Period Ahead for Indian H-1B and H4 Visa Holders

Coronavirus has brought the World to a standstill. There are around 11 Lakh cases across the globe and a quarter of them are from the United States. The country’s economy has come to a standstill and unemployment has touched the highest levels ever.

According to reports, close to 6 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. To facilitate jobs for its own citizens, the country is likely to deport many of H-1B and H4 visa holders in the coming days. An industry source estimated that close to 20-30 percent of H-1B and H4 visa holders may be forced to return home in the next 5-7 months.

This is just an estimate and is likely to increase in the coming days as the crisis worsens. In the US, there are close to 3,00,000 H-1B visa holders. A majority of them around 70% are Indians. This will also have a bearing effect of Indian IT service providers and its IT workers, who are contract employees there.

Even those in line for the green card are also in the danger zone. Some of them have been working in the US for more than a decade. Needless to say, Indians in the United States are having sleepless nights with the crisis brewing. The United States will go for elections in November and that will force President Trump to make a choice between the locals and the migrants. And the choice will not be hard to guess.