Former US President Donald Trump, vying to return to the top post in elections due this year, has softened his stand on immigration with a new proposal that will benefit Indian and other foreign students.

The Republican leader known for his staunch remarks against immigrants has promised that if he’s elected, foreign students who graduate from US colleges will automatically get Green Card, which allows permanent residency in the US.

Trump said these students become multibillionaires after they return to their home countries like India and China after graduating from US colleges. He sought to replicate the same in the US.

The US presidential elections due in November is expected to see a second edition of President Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, in which immigration and deportation of illegal immigrants are among the key issues for voters.

Trump had earlier this year branded illegal immigrants “animals, not human” at an election campaign. He, however, said in a recent podcast that he always supported a merit-based legal immigration system.

He said in the “All-In” podcast that he plans to offer Green Cards automatically as part of a diploma to students who graduate from a US college, which will help them continue their stay in the country.

The podcast was hosted by Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg – all venture capitalists, three of whom are immigrants.

Speaking in the podcast, Trump recalled “stories where people graduated from a top college or from a college, and they desperately wanted to stay here, they had a plan for a company, a concept, and they can’t – they go back to India, they go back to China, they do the same basic company in those places…and they become multi-billionaires employing thousands and thousands of people, and it could have been done here.”

A Green Card is an identity document for permanent residency in the United States.

The former president further lamented that “we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools”.

He also reiterated his first-term policy of foreign students getting a Green Card after receiving a higher education degree in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) field.

“Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years, if you graduate or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country,” Trump said.

“We force the brilliant people, the people that graduate from college, the people that are number one in their class from the best colleges, you have to be able to recruit these people and keep the people,” the former president asserted.

He said some graduates at the top of the class can’t even make a deal with the company because they don’t think they will be able to stay in the country, but that is “going to end one day”.

Trump’s recent remarks were in contrast to the immigration policies of his administration when he was in power, which included restrictions on green cards and visas.

The US has over a million foreign students studying in colleges there, as of the 2022-23 academic year, and this figure can only be expected to rise.

As many as 65,960 Indians officially became U.S. citizens, making India the second-largest source country for new citizens in America after Mexico, according to the latest Congressional report.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

As many as 65,960 Indians officially became U.S. citizens, making India the second-largest source country for new citizens in America after Mexico, according to the latest Congressional report.

An estimated 46 million foreign-born persons resided in the United States in 2022, approximately 14% of the total U.S. population of 333 million, according to American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of these, 24.5 million, about 53%, reported their status as naturalised citizens.

In its latest “U.S. Naturalisation Policy” report of April 15, the independent Congressional Research Service in the fiscal year 2022, 969,380 individuals became naturalised U.S. citizens.

“Individuals born in Mexico represented the largest number of naturalisations, followed by persons from India, Philippines, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic,” it said.

Based on the latest available data, CRS said in 2022, as many as 128,878, Mexican nationals became American citizens. They were followed by Indians (65,960), the Philippines (53,413), Cuba (46,913), Dominican Republic (34,525), Vietnam (33,246) and China (27.038).

According to CRS as of 2023, 2,831,330 foreign-born American nationals were from India, which is the second largest number after Mexico’s 10,638,429. Mexico and India are followed by China with 2,225,447 foreign-born American nationals.

However, as many as 42% of the India-born foreign nationals living in the U.S. are currently ineligible to become U.S. citizens, CRS report said.

As of 2023, as many as 290,000 India-born foreign nationals who were on Green Card or Legal Permanent Residency (LPR) were potentially eligible for naturalisation.

CRS said in recent years, some observers have expressed concern over USCIS processing backlogs for naturalisation applications.

Although there continues to be a backlog of naturalisation applications, since FY2020 the agency has reduced the number of applications pending completion by more than half.

As of the end of FY2023, USCIS had approximately 408,000 pending naturalisation applications, down from 550,000 at the end of FY2022; 840,000 at the end of FY2021; and 943,000 at the end of FY2020.

In FY2023, 823,702 LPRs submitted naturalisation applications. The number of individuals who have recently applied for citizenship remains well below the estimated population of 9 million LPRs who were eligible to naturalise in 2023. The percentage of foreign-born individuals who are naturalized varies by several factors, including country of origin.

Immigrants from Honduras, Guatemala, Venezuela, Mexico, El Salvador, and Brazil have the lowest percentages of naturalized foreign born, while those from Vietnam, the Philippines, Russia, Jamaica, and Pakistan have the highest.

To be eligible for naturalisation, an applicant must fulfill certain eligibility requirements set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The requirements generally include being a lawful permanent resident (LPR) for at least five years.

Washington:

US President Joe Biden is doing everything he can to improve the H-1B visa process, ‘green card’ backlog and other issues related to the country’s legal immigration system, the White House has said.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

“One of the steps, if we look at the H-1B visa process, we have taken action to improve that and the process and backlog for lawful permanent residents (green card) who are eligible to become US citizens,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference on Wednesday. She was responding to questions about the feeling among a section of Indian Americans that the president is not putting as much effort on addressing the woes of legal immigrants as he is doing for illegal immigrants.

Biden heads to the southern border with Mexico in Texas on Thursday.

“Just last month, for example, as a part of our efforts to strengthen the integrity of our immigration system and reduce potential for fraud, the DHS published a final rule relating to H-1B visa,” Jean-Pierre said.

“So, the changes promote fairer and more equitable outcomes and, so, we will continue our work to improve the system within our authorities and that has certainly been a priority,” she said and added that the administration takes that “very seriously” and is continuing to do everything that it can to improve the visa process.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the launch of myUSCIS organisational accounts that will allow multiple people within an organisation, as well as their legal representatives, to collaborate on and prepare H-1B registrations, H-1B petitions and any associated Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service.

A new organisational account is required to participate in the H-1B Electronic Registration Process starting in March 2024, the USCIS said.  “We are working expeditiously to address any technical issues that may arise for legal representatives whose accounts migrated when they logged into their online account on or after February 14, 2024, including impacts on cases other than H-1B filings,” it said.

The initial registration period for FY 2025 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 6, and run through noon Eastern on March 22.

During this period, prospective petitioners and their representatives, if applicable, must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary, its media alert said.  Starting with the FY 2025 initial registration period, USCIS will require registrants to provide valid passport information or valid travel document information for each beneficiary.

The passport or travel document provided must be the one the beneficiary, if or when abroad, intends to use to enter the US if issued an H-1B visa. Each beneficiary must only be registered under one passport or travel document.

“In March, we will launch online filing of Form I-129 and associated Form I-907 for non-cap H-1B petitions. On April 1, USCIS will begin accepting online filing for H-1B cap petitions and associated Forms I-907 for petitioners whose registrations have been selected,” the federal agency said.

To help guide organisations and legal representatives through the new process, the USCIS had launched the Tech Talks sessions in February 2024. During these sessions, individuals can ask questions about the organisational accounts and online filing of Form I-129 for H-1B petitions.

The USCIS encourages all individuals involved in the H-1B registration and petition filing process to attend these sessions. Additional information and dates are available on the Upcoming National Engagements page, it said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

US President Joe Biden is doing everything he can to improve the H-1B visa process, ‘green card’ backlog and other issues related to the country’s legal immigration system, the White House has said.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

“One of the steps, if we look at the H-1B visa process, we have taken action to improve that and the process and backlog for lawful permanent residents (green card) who are eligible to become US citizens,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference on Wednesday. She was responding to questions about the feeling among a section of Indian Americans that the president is not putting as much effort on addressing the woes of legal immigrants as he is doing for illegal immigrants.

Biden heads to the southern border with Mexico in Texas on Thursday.

“Just last month, for example, as a part of our efforts to strengthen the integrity of our immigration system and reduce potential for fraud, the DHS published a final rule relating to H-1B visa,” Jean-Pierre said.

“So, the changes promote fairer and more equitable outcomes and, so, we will continue our work to improve the system within our authorities and that has certainly been a priority,” she said and added that the administration takes that “very seriously” and is continuing to do everything that it can to improve the visa process.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the launch of myUSCIS organisational accounts that will allow multiple people within an organisation, as well as their legal representatives, to collaborate on and prepare H-1B registrations, H-1B petitions and any associated Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service.

A new organisational account is required to participate in the H-1B Electronic Registration Process starting in March 2024, the USCIS said.  “We are working expeditiously to address any technical issues that may arise for legal representatives whose accounts migrated when they logged into their online account on or after February 14, 2024, including impacts on cases other than H-1B filings,” it said.

The initial registration period for FY 2025 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 6, and run through noon Eastern on March 22.

During this period, prospective petitioners and their representatives, if applicable, must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary, its media alert said.  Starting with the FY 2025 initial registration period, USCIS will require registrants to provide valid passport information or valid travel document information for each beneficiary.

The passport or travel document provided must be the one the beneficiary, if or when abroad, intends to use to enter the US if issued an H-1B visa. Each beneficiary must only be registered under one passport or travel document.

“In March, we will launch online filing of Form I-129 and associated Form I-907 for non-cap H-1B petitions. On April 1, USCIS will begin accepting online filing for H-1B cap petitions and associated Forms I-907 for petitioners whose registrations have been selected,” the federal agency said.

To help guide organisations and legal representatives through the new process, the USCIS had launched the Tech Talks sessions in February 2024. During these sessions, individuals can ask questions about the organisational accounts and online filing of Form I-129 for H-1B petitions.

The USCIS encourages all individuals involved in the H-1B registration and petition filing process to attend these sessions. Additional information and dates are available on the Upcoming National Engagements page, it said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)