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The suspension is expected to directly hit Indian information technology majors like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services that rely heavily on the programme to rush workers to the US.
"I think that was a point which was registered, that H1B in many ways is an economic issue, a trade business issue," Jaishankar told a news conference in Washington. "Of course, in the US context, it is seen as part of an immigration basket."
The suspended service - known as the "premium H1B processing" project - allows companies hiring foreign workers on this visa to short-circuit a long queue that typically holds up the processing of regular H1B applications for a period of three to six months on average.
The premium service, for which companies need to pay an additional $1,250 per candidate - over the about $5,000 that an ordinary application costs, including taxes and surcharges - ensures processing within 15 days.
Indian IT companies that hold staffing contracts for American tech jobs mostly hire for specific, time-determined projects, and so mostly use the premium H1B service to employ Indian workers.
The USCIS order does not cite immigration concerns as the reason for suspending the premium service temporarily, and instead suggests the move is aimed at clearing up a heavy backlog of regular H1B applications.
"This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H1B processing times," the USCIS order says. "By temporarily suspending premium processing, we will be able to process long-pending petitions, which we have currently been unable to process due to the high volume of incoming petitions."
But the suspension highlights the low priority the Department of Homeland Security - which administers the USCIS - under Trump appears to be placing on urgently staffing critical technology positions in the US with high-skilled foreigners.
US resists economic rationale
We do not have time for this speaking out of both sides of the mouth here. It absolutely is an economic issue and Tata and Infosys are a problem in the US.
"I think that was a point which was registered, that H1B in many ways is an economic issue, a trade business issue," Jaishankar told a news conference in Washington. "Of course, in the US context, it is seen as part of an immigration basket."
The suspended service - known as the "premium H1B processing" project - allows companies hiring foreign workers on this visa to short-circuit a long queue that typically holds up the processing of regular H1B applications for a period of three to six months on average.
The premium service, for which companies need to pay an additional $1,250 per candidate - over the about $5,000 that an ordinary application costs, including taxes and surcharges - ensures processing within 15 days.
Indian IT companies that hold staffing contracts for American tech jobs mostly hire for specific, time-determined projects, and so mostly use the premium H1B service to employ Indian workers.
The USCIS order does not cite immigration concerns as the reason for suspending the premium service temporarily, and instead suggests the move is aimed at clearing up a heavy backlog of regular H1B applications.
"This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H1B processing times," the USCIS order says. "By temporarily suspending premium processing, we will be able to process long-pending petitions, which we have currently been unable to process due to the high volume of incoming petitions."
But the suspension highlights the low priority the Department of Homeland Security - which administers the USCIS - under Trump appears to be placing on urgently staffing critical technology positions in the US with high-skilled foreigners.
US resists economic rationale
We do not have time for this speaking out of both sides of the mouth here. It absolutely is an economic issue and Tata and Infosys are a problem in the US.
