Siddaramaiah demands reciprocity on US changes for H-1B visa spouses

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah has urged the Centre to intervene with the United States government, which is planning on scrapping work permits for spouses of H-1B visa holders and ‘International Entrepreneurial Rule’ (IER). The latter allows start-up founders to stay back in the US to build on their ventures.

The CM of the poll-bound state, home to a large Information Technology industry and also a number of US expatriates, wondered if spouses of US nationals in Bengaluru should “have a free ride here.” “Denying spouses of H1B visa holders in the US the permission to work is not fair. Techies from Karnataka are affected by this. Bengaluru is home to a large number of US expatriates. Should their spouses have a free ride here?” the Karnataka chief minister tweeted to External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, Siddaramaiah said “I hope the MEA is taking note of this. Madam @SushmaSwaraj it is important that we take this matter up strongly with US admin & demand reciprocity.”

The US Government’s plans to tighten the visa rules came to light after a letter dated April 4, 2018 from the director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), L Francis Cissna, to US Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary surfaced this week.

“Our plans include proposing regulatory changes to remove H4 dependent spouses from the class of aliens eligible for employment authorisation, thereby reversing the 2015 final rule that granted such eligibility,” the letter states.

An H-4 visa is issued by the US government to family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa holders. As many as 1,17,000 Indian spouses had been awarded H-4 visas between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017.

The same letter calls for reversing the previous Obama administration’s policy on entrepreneur visas, making it harder for start-up incubators to stay in the US for a longer period. On average, 90% of the beneficiaries of the IER are Indian migrants, as per records.

The stricter visa rules are part of President Donald Trump’s election promise of “Buy American, Hire American,” which calls on American companies to hire citizens instead of foreigners.

The proposed changes to visa rules have drawn a scathing reaction from the Congress party, which is questioning the point of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strong relations with the current US administration if interests of Indian workers couldn’t be protected.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “PM Modi & the BJP must answer to India’s, especially Karnataka’s IT industry, IT professionals and the young, the reason for bartering India’s interests and compromising India’s position as tech giant.”