At a time when there is uncertainty over immigration laws in the US, actor turned politician Jana Sena Chief Pawan Kalyan, who is on a brief US tour has written a letter to the Prime Minister’s office seeking intervention in the ‘safety and security’ of Indians in the US.
Pawan while seeking PM's attention to the issue written "I wish to draw to your kind attention to the difficult dilemma facing the Indian Diaspora in the USA as a consequence of stringent and severe policy changes being made to the US immigration and naturalization procedures."
Pawan said that lives of a large number of Indians, who are contributing to the healthy economy of America are being changed without their 'knowledge and consent.
He further stated that the Indian diaspora is in a strange dilemma to ward off dangers to the families of lndian people who have been living in the USA for long due to politics and policies of the current US administration.
“Through a series of executive actions, undue pressure is being brought upon Indian individuals and families to give up their hard-earned place in the US. Turning their lives into a mess are the policies created to plunge the lives of Indians into whatever that may suit the US government. Employees under the H-1B visas, their dependents, applicants of Green Card status, business owners or employers, students, spouses and children, who are working and living in the US in various capacities are all marked by the US government,” Pawan write in the letter.
He requested the PM to take a serious note of the issue and look at taking ‘action appropriate to the enormity of the problem faced by million of Indians in the US’.
The Jana Sena Chief’s letter to the PM comes at a time when the US government, under Donald Trump, is looking at making changes to the visa systems in the country, which may make it difficult for Indians currently residing in the US.
As per USCIS, over 75% of the more than 400,000 H-1B visa holders are Indian. The H-1B visa is the most common route for Indians to work in the IT industry in the US.
Times of India reported in November that once the next filing season for H-1B applications begin in April, a new rule will be put in place requiring companies hiring foreigners through this visa will have to pre-register electronically for the annual H-1B lottery, and then file ‘full-fledged applications’ (referred to as petitions) for the winners. This, TOI reports, may give leeway to US’ immigration arm US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to deice who can work in the US.