The Biden administration will make it easier for Indians to live and work in the United States, using this week’s state visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help some skilled workers enter or remain in the country, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The State Department could announce as soon as Thursday that a small number of Indians and other foreign workers on H-1B visas will be able to renew those visas in the US, without having to travel abroad, one of the sources said, part of a pilot programme that could be expanded in the coming years. Indian citizens are by far the most active users of the US H-1B programme and made up 73 per cent of the nearly 4,42,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2022. “We all recognise that mobility of our people is a huge asset to us,” said another US official.
