Many H-1B holders could face deportation if their application for extension or change of status is rejected and their tenure of stay granted by the US government has expired, according to the new US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy.
Announced on June 28, the policy memorandum empowers USCIS to issue a “Notice to Appear” (NTA) order for a person whose visa petition for transfer or extension has been denied. Once the application is denied, the H-1B visa holders are deemed to present “unlawfully in the US.”
And the worst part is that the person would have to stay in the United States for many months, that too without a job, for court hearing by an immigration judge.
Earlier, if the H-1B extension was denied, the visa holders could have left the US on their own and come back to India. However, now if the NTA has been issued for someone, he or she has to stay in the US and appear in the court for immigration proceedings.
If he or she leaves, the person will face a ten-year bar on re-entry to the US, according to a report published in The Times of India. Though he can move the court for voluntary departure.
The rules of deportation now seem to have widened as notices for deportation proceedings were earlier restricted to criminal cases only.
Now merely losing your petition for visa extension can place a person on the same fast-track as a criminal, even if he or she were never arrested or charged before.
The Trump administration failed to meet its deadline for the second time this year to issue a notification on its decision to terminate the work authorisation of H-4 visa holders, mostly Indians who are spouses of professionals having H-1B visas.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had informed a US court in March that it was working to issue a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in June this year.
At the end of the June, the DHS did not give any explanation for not issuing the notice of proposed rulemaking.
