'Families facing hardships': MEA says 'actively engaged with US' amid H-1b visa delays

THe Ministry of extraneous Affairs said on fri that it has taken up the supply of delays and difficulties in programing H-1b visa appointments among other concerns regarding the supply with the authorities of the United States.MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that Indian authorities are “actively engaged” with the US side to address the issue, even though visa matters “fall under the sovereign domain of the issuing country”.“Yes, the government of India has received several representations from Indian nationals who are facing delays or problems with rescheduling of their visa appointments. While we do understand that visa related issue pertains to the sovereign domain of any country. We have flagged these issues and our concerns to the US side, both here in New Delhi and in Washington DC. We hope that these delays and disruptions will be addressed," he told a press briefing on Friday.Also read: H-1B visa row: Big decision on $100,000 fee out despite pushback; DHS reveals new rules for selection‘Indian govt actively enegaged with the US side’He said that due to issues in scheduling and rescheduling of consular appointments, “there are several people who have been stranded for extended period of time”, adding that the issues “have also caused lots of hardships of their families, to the family life they have as also to the education of their children.”Also read: H-1B visa lottery scrapped: Why Trump admin's new rule will hit Indians the hardest“There was a communication from the US government also that with effect from December 15th, they have expanded their review process or processes that they have, which covers specialty occupation temporary H-1b visa applicants and it also is applicable to the dependents who are covered under H4 category visa. This particular change that they have introduced is applicable globally to all countries,” he said."The government remains actively engaged with the US side to address the issue and minimise the impact on Indian nationals," the MEA spokesperson added.This comes after a federal judge upheld Trump administration's $100,000 fee on new H-1b applications in a ruling on Tuesday, citing the US President's effort to increase the cost of the popular visa is lawful. The US Chamber of Commerce, which sued to block the proposal, can appeal the decision.Along with the new hiked fee for the H-1b visa, the US Department of Homeland Security also scrapped the decades-old random lottery used to select H-1B visa beneficiaries to replace it with a weighted selection system.“The new rule replaces the random lottery for selecting visa recipients with a process that gives greater weight to those with higher skills,” the DHS said in a statement.