With Donald Trump in Oval Office, should US-bound Indian students be worried?
US Election Results: Most skilled workers from India work on H-1B visas. The standard cap on H-1B visas is 65,000 a year, with an additional 20,000 allocated to applicants with a master's degree or higher from a US institution.
With Donald Trump set to occupy the Oval Office in January next year as the 47th President of the United States, do the US-bound Indian students have any reason to worry? The campaign for presidency spearheaded by Donald Trump had targeted – time and again – the Joe Biden-led Democrats for being too soft on migrants and for reportedly failing to curb illegal immigration.
In his previous term (2016-2020) too, Donald Trump took a slew of steps to crack down on immigration. A report by Prabhudas Lilladher has recently noted that Trump is set to tighten immigration rules and reduce H-1B visas. "Donald Trump’s policies could see a resurgence of aggressive trade tactics, including potential tariffs and stricter immigration policies," reads the report.
In fact, his previous term witnessed a series of immigration policies which affected skilled professionals and students, especially those holding H-1B, F-1, and H-4 visas.
However, immigration experts believe that Trump’s return to the White House would not impact Indian students since they seek legal immigration, whereas the Republican Party campaigners such as Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk and Donald Trump stridently campaigned against those who enter the US illegally.
For legal immigrants
Trump had vowed to reinstate his first-term policies targeting illegal border crossings and to roll out sweeping new restrictions. He even said that his administration would embark on the biggest deportation effort in the US history which, of course, would need the Congress' nod. Trump has also said during the campaigning that he would seek to discontinue automatic citizenship for the kids born to immigrants.
However, the students from India do not need to fret since the so-called "anti-immigration" policies will not crack down on legal migrants. At 3.37 lakh, the US has the second highest number of Indian students after Canada which has 4.27 lakh students from India.
Most skilled workers from India work on H-1B visas. The standard cap on H-1B visas in a year is 65,000, with an additional 20,000 allocated to applicants with a master's degree or higher from a US institution.
Besides H-1B, students are eligible to claim 12-month work visa under what is known as Optional Practical Training (OPT). It is a form of work authorisation available to F-1 international students who have been full-time students for at least two consecutive semesters and plan to seek employment in their fields of study in the US.
Those graduating from the STEM (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields are eligible to seek another 24-month extension of their OPT.
Vivek Ramaswamy's comments during a rally in the run-up to the presidential elections encapsulate his party's stand on legal and illegal migrants, "To every legal immigrant: you're like my parents. You deserve the opportunity to secure a better life for your children in America.
"Our message to illegal immigrants: we will return you to your country of origin. Not because you are all bad people but because you broke the law and the United States was founded on the rule of law."
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First Published:6 Nov 2024, 10:11 PM IST
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