IT companies jittery over Donald Trump’s plan to suspend H-1B visa

The Donald Trump Administration is considering a proposal to suspend several employment-based immigration visas, including the H-1B visa, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

Though details of the proposed suspension are vague so far, the report says that the suspension “could extend into the government’s new fiscal year, beginning October 1, when many new visas are typically issued”.

It further says that the US could bar new H-1B visa holders outside the country from coming to work until the suspension is lifted, though visa holders already in the country are unlikely to be affected. The Indian information technology industry, which has long been a beneficiary of the H-1B visa regime, is likely to be directly impacted if such a suspension is announced for a longer term.