H1B visa rules change: Announced new rules amid PM Narendra Modi visit

H1B visa rules change: The Joe 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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second day in the US saw several big ticket announcements aimed at boosting ties between the two countries, ranging from the areas of defence cooperation to space expeditions to visa rules.

India and the US are set to announce H1B visa processing changes and open new consulates in a big step-up in diplomatic ties. . The new visa rules will make it easier for Indians to live and work in the US. Under the new rules, it is learnt, 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, a source said.

This will be a pilot programme that could be expanded in the coming years to a larger number of Indian, the source said. According to a media report, Indian citizens are by far the most active users of the US H-1B program and made up 73 per cent of the nearly 442,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2022.

In a massive push to the Narendra Modi government’s Make In India pitch, General Electric’s aerospace arm has announced that it has teamed up with the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to make fighter jet engines for Indian Air Force in India.

While questions on the extent to which the US will allow sharing of technology, this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between GE Aerospace and HAL is without doubt among the biggest defence agreements in Indian history.

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