India has a big loss in US visa
The path is becoming more difficult for Indians working in America. Not only the shortage of H-1B visa, but there has also been a huge decline in other essential visas such as H4 (for family), F1 (for students), L1 (for company transfer) and L2 (for family of these visa holders). According to a report by Money Control, in the last three years, India has suffered the most in these visa categories, while countries like China, Nepal and Vietnam have benefited.
Statistics are troubled
H4 visa, which H-1b Family members of visa people get, till May this year only 46,982 were released, while in 2023 this number was 71,130 at the same time. That is, there has been a huge decrease of about 34%. At the same time, Mexico has doubled its H4 visas, and Ghana, South Africa, Philippines have also increased rapidly. China has also increased this visa by 10.7%.
The F1 visa for students is even more worrying. India got these visas about 17,800 in 2023, which has now fallen to just 11,484. This is about 35% deficiency. While China has got a boost of about 10%, Vietnam has increased more than 40% and Nepal has increased a tremendous increase of more than 260%. Countries like Zimbabwe and Kenya in Africa have also increased by three points.
The L1 visa, which is for transfer within companies, has also had to see a decrease of about 28%. With this, the L2 visa has also fallen by about 38%. At the same time, China has recorded a tremendous increase of 64% and 43% here. Apart from this, Israel, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brazil have also got a lot of benefit in L1 and L2 visas.
Why did India lag behind in South Asia?
India is suffering the most in comparison to the rest of South Asia. Nepal has made a tremendous increase of 262% in F1 visa and 113% in L2 visa. Bangladesh has seen a slight increase of 28% in H4 visa and 5% in F1 visa. Pakistan has almost doubled the F1 visa and the H4 visa has also increased by 40%. The situation in Sri Lanka is a few mixed, where the H4 visa increased but the student visa has decreased.
According to the report, the number of H-1B visas has fallen more than 37% in the last two years. This has affected not only the employed people, but also on their family and the opportunities of studies. From above, the US government’s new scheme, which proposes to impose a fee of $ 100,000 annually for the H-1B visa, has become a bigger burden on the expectations of Indian candidates.