When President Trump came to power in 2016-2017, it was anticipated that the lives of several immigrant groups, including Indians, in the United States, would not be as smooth as earlier. The businessman turned politician spoke of doing away with ObamaCare, was vocal about a Muslim ban and more importantly, spoke of stringent immigration policies being put into practice. One would argue that there has been a need for having increased monitoring of the number of people coming into the US, but the implementation of the same has been taken to the extreme. Apart from people coming in, there has been a direct impact on the 4 million Indian nationals living in the United States.
According to a study by foreignpolicy.com, one million Indian scientists and engineers are skeptical not only about their future in the country but also their current visa status. The magic word to any non-American trying to live the American dream is ‘Green Card.’ It can take anywhere from months to years to obtain one. However, now only the exceptionally well paid and highly skilled are being considered for an immigrant visa – which pretty much leaves out a large number of aspirants.
The above has a flip impact as well on the likes of Deloitte and Infosys who are on the lookout for young Indian professionals. A situation has risen where companies cannot hire the best because of the incredibly stringent immigration laws. According to foreignpolicy.com, the number of people applying for H-1B Visa has dropped from 236,000 to 199,000 – a significant drop.
Tech giants like Microsoft and Google have lobbied administrations in the past to allow more skilled technology workers from India into the country due to an apparent lack of skilled workers available domestically. On the contrary, H-1B critics have been adamant that there are enough Americans to fill those jobs. With Trump in power, the lobbying power of these companies may have decreased as well.
EB5 BRICS has been committed to helping Indian nationals attain immigrant visas to enter the United States under the U.S. Immigrant Investor Visa Program called EB-5. With a one-time investment of $900,000 to $1,800,000 ( $800,000 or $1.05M in 2022) a significant step can be taken towards ensuring a safe and secure future in the country. Parents looking to invest in their children’s education in the US should explore this path to prevent their U.S. bound student being stuck or isolated from employment opportunities upon graduation.
Further Reads: Investor Visa Reforms | US Infrastructure and Foreign Investors | History