For the 725,000 Indian immigrants living in the U.S. without a visa, the third-largest group of undocumented immigrants, President Joe Biden’s recent executive order on immigration brings much-needed relief. It eases the path to employment and citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, or ‘dreamers’, that is, undocumented residents who were brought to the US as children. Around 2,000 of such “dreamers” in the US are Indian, and they are now eligible to apply for employment-based visas, like the H1-B. The executive order also lifted some application requirements for undocumented spouses of US citizens. However, for the nearly 1.6 million Indian citizens residing legally in the U.S., neither Biden nor Trump have delivered meaningful reforms, though both presidential candidates have indicated support for high-skilled, employment-based immigration from India.

Dip Patel is a “documented dreamer.” Brought to the US as a child by Indian parents on H1-B visas, he faced self-deportation (voluntary departure from the country in advance of legal proceedings) at the age of 21 if he did not qualify for an employment visa. “When I was in high school, I realised that every decision and choice that I was making would impact my ability to remain in the country,” he said. “Later, I would learn that this is something that’s affecting not just me but thousands of people like me.” 

Narrow Avenues

Patel founded Improve the Dream, a youth-led grassroots organisation, to advocate for around 2 lakh “documented dreamers” in the US, most of whom are Indian-American. These are immigrants like Patel who face self-deportation because their parents did not receive a green card – for which the wait could be 134 years – before they turned 21. The H1-B lottery, the primary pathway to remaining in the states for ‘documented dreamers’, had an approval rate of 14.6% in FY2024.

“With the current lottery system, the chance of visa approval is very low, and that’s going to go down even more, since there’s going to be many more DACA recipients applying,” says Patel. “And that’s absolutely not to say that they don’t deserve that opportunity – rather that the administration must prioritise [systemic reform].” Indians were granted 74.1% of H1-B visas in 2021, which remains the primary mode of immigration from India to the US.

“Nothing good has happened in 34 years,” says Charles Foster, senior immigration advisor to George Bush and Barack Obama, and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (famously portrayed in Mao’s Last Dancer). “I’ve known Biden since I supported his first presidential campaign in 1988, and his heart is in the right position. [But] Congress has not enacted major legislation on immigration since 1990.”

Immigration Still A Sticky Issue

Congresswoman Deborah Ross, member of the House India Caucus and immigration subcommittee of the Judiciary committee, is one of the staunchest advocates in the Congress immigration reform. “The good news is that we now have bipartisan, bicameral legislation to include ‘documented dreamers’ with the original dreamers…that passed the House twice. But we are not moving on immigration issues because of the political fights and the fights over the border,” she said. Patel added that “any sort of immigration bill is very, very hard right now [due to Republican opposition]”.

The pressing issue is the annual cap of H1-B issuances to 65,000 a year, and country quotas on green cards of 7%, which means that no single country can receive more than 7% of the annual employment-based green card allotment. For the 1.1 million Indians stuck in the green card backlog, this could mean a lifetime of waiting; for the thousands of Indian applicants in the H1-B lottery, it could mean deportation.

“The problem is that the right wing of the Republican Party is not willing to admit that we need more workers and more skilled workers in this country,” says Rep. Ross. “I absolutely believe voters that care about positive immigration reform are being completely overlooked. I have a growing Asian-American and Latino community in my district. Every time I talk to the Chamber of Commerce, I hear about this issue. It’s the number one issue for the hospitality and restaurant industry.”

‘I Need Staff’

Kiran Verma, one of the most celebrated Indian chefs in America, who was invited to the White House by the Obamas, says: “I have been running Kiran’s in Houston for over two decades and never has the situation been so dire with a dearth of trained manpower. I need chefs, I need wait staff, I need managers. It used to be so much easier to get them from India. Now, even the best talent can’t come because the process is so cumbersome.”

Trump, however, is even less likely than Biden to be an ally for Indian immigrants, even if they are college-educated. “He said things like this even before his last term, but his actual record shows that he made it worse for legal immigrants,” said Patel. “He walked back his claims about green cards the very next day.” Project 2025, the recently released policy playbook for a second Trump presidency, proposes to use backlog numbers to trigger the automatic suspension of application intake for large categories, among other restrictions on immigration.

The question remains whether positive immigration reform will be a decisive factor in the election, particularly at a time when support for Biden among Indian-American voters has declined by 19% since the debate. Even for Indian-Americans who support Trump, immigration remains an important issue. Jugal Malani, CEO of Unique Group Industries and president of India House Houston (and organiser of Howdy Modi in 2019), says that while he does still support Trump in 2024, “I absolutely support immigration reform: this country runs on immigrants.”

The Risk Of Losing Talent

Rep. Ross said, “I was in India less than a year ago. And what I heard was that the younger people in India, many of whom have come to my district for advanced degrees and to do amazing work, now don’t think it’s worth it. And so they’re staying in India, and India, frankly, likes that.” Indeed, there was a 38% drop in overall H1-B applications for FY2025. “We’re going to lose talent – and when we lose talent, we lose our competitiveness,” she said.

Verma agrees. “My journey would not have been fulfilled had the immigration laws been the same as today. The promise of the American dream must go on. I hope we can fix the issue with whoever comes to power this November in the White House,” he says.

(Maya Prakash is a New York Times award-winning writer, and a student at Williams College, Massachusetts and Oxford University.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Visa did not say why the Reserve Bank of India has issued the directive. 
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Visa said on February 14 that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is also the country’s financial market regulator, had directed it last week to halt all domestic transactions for Business Payment Solution Providers (BPSPs).

BPSPs facilitate business-to-business card payments made to non-card-accepting vendors or suppliers. The RBI’s directive will not impact all commercial card payments but only those intermediated by BPSPs.

Visa, the world’s largest payments processor, did not say why the RBI has issued the directive. The Central bank did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

“Visa received a communication from the RBI on February 8, in what appears to be an industry-wide request for information on the role of BPSPs in commercial and business payments,” a Visa India spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the company was in discussions with the RBI and its partners to ensure compliance. Indian fintech firm Enkash, which works in partnership with Visa to facilitate such transactions, declined to comment on the development.

Earlier in the day, Indian business daily Economic Times reported that the RBI asked leading card networks, including Visa and Mastercard, to halt such card payments. Mastercard, too, did not respond to a request for a comment.

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh):

Jaya, a female street dog from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, is set to fly out of the country for uncharted shores with a proper passport and visa, along with her new owner from the Netherlands.

Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Meral Bontenbel, a native of Amsterdam who has assumed the custodianship of Jaya, said she had always wanted to bring home a pet and fell helplessly in love with the street dog from Varanasi during a visit to the temple town.

“I travelled to Varanasi as I wanted to explore the city. As I was walking around idly one day (along with her co-travellers), Jaya walked up to us. She was very sweet and I fell for her. I cuddled her and she tagged along with us thereafter. She started following us around. Then, one day, she was attacked by another dog on the street,” Bontenbel recalled.

She added that a security guard stepped forward to rescue Jaya from the clutches of the other mongrel.

“A guard came forward and saved her. I hadn’t initially planned to adopt her. I simply wanted to get her off the streets,” Bontelbel told ANI.

She added that she had to extend her stay in India for six months to arrange a passport and visa for her beloved Jaya.

“I’m really happy to finally be able to take her along with me. It was a long-drawn process. I had to wait six months to get her to this point. I have always wanted to have a dog and I fell in love with her the first time she walked up to me,” she added.

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

Image for representation only

The story so far: On July 5, apex banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) floated a draft circular seeking comments from stakeholders about mandating that card issuers provide their customers with the choice of multiple card networks. It also proposes to restrain issuers from entering into exclusive agreements with card networks. Feedback on the proposal, which would apply to credit, debit and prepaid cards, can be sent to the regulator by August 4. 

What exactly has the RBI proposed and why? 

The most important of the proposals entail that card issuers, or the concerned bank of the customer, provide them with the option to choose among the multiple card networks available. This would be either at the time of issue or at any other subsequent time.  

At present, the customer when applying for a credit or debit card cannot opt for a network of their choice. They cannot choose from among the authorised networks, such as American Express, Diners Club International, Mastercard, RuPay or Visa. Instead, the customer would have to accept the network the bank may have a tie-up or an affiliation with — precisely what the RBI proposes to address. The regulator observed that the arrangements existing between card networks and card issuers (banks and non-banks) “are not conducive to the availability of choice for customers”. 

The regulator has also proposed that cards be issued across more than one network, with issuers not enteringinto any arrangement or agreement with card networks that would restrict customers from availing the services of other card networks. 

How would this be implemented?  

RBI has proposed that the proposals be effective from October 1 this year. This would be extended to existing customers at the time of amendment or renewal. Fresh agreements would by default draw the provisions from the date the circular is enforced.  

How important are cards in our ecosystem?  

As per the latest RBI data, the number of outstanding credit cards grew approximately 1.43% on a month-on-month basis to 87 million credit cards in May. The number of debit cards on the other hand stood at 974 million – a 0.7% increase compared to the prior month. 

The primary reasons for increased card payments have been increased awareness alongside the availability of adequate infrastructure – both for face-to-face and online. For perspective, in the month of May, there was an 11% increase in the number of transactions done using credit cards at e-commerce platforms and 10.8% in terms of volume.  

In fact, Shailendra Singh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Bank of Baroda, in credit services aggregator BankBazaar’s India Credit Card Report, said “E-commerce spends will far outpace the growth in physical spends, and the plastic card as a form factor will soon start morphing into a ‘virtual card’ accessible through mobile application on customers’ phones.”

He added that emergence of UPI would be another crucial factor by offering consumers a medium for both physical and digital transactions. “This innovation is not only encouraging the usage of cards at smaller establishments, but also enabling individuals to manage their cash flow without straining their finances,” he stated.  

Further, with respect to rise for both credit and debit cards payments, business advisory services provider PricewaterhouseCoopers also stated in its India Payments Handbook2022-27 that , “some of the elements driving this rise include the introduction of new companies with a focus on digital experiences and a rising customer base in tier 3 and tier 4 cities. With features like tokenisation and EMI it has become safer and more convenient to use for transactions.” 

The availability of choice is expected to further boost the overall ecosystem. 

What are some potential advantages?  

Each payment network offers a certain bouquet of offers and advantages. The ability to choose thus would help consumers opt for something that suits their needs. Additionally, they could port to some other provider as and when the requirement changes, thus enabling more control.  

This would, in turn, also help market dynamics by increasing competitiveness and associating closer with the end consumer.  

Furthermore, according to Adhil Shetty, CEO at BankBazaar, the development should be seen in conjunction with the integration of RuPay payments with UPI. “We believe that a large set of customers are interested in using their credit cards through UPI, including those who already have credit cards and desire UPI interoperability,” he says. “RuPay and UPI are going international, albeit at a slower pace. So RuPay customers looking to upgrade their cards for international travel may also be able to migrate their card to Visa or Mastercard especially if they are travelling to destinations where RuPay is yet to be widely accepted,” he points out. 

Mr Shetty believes that since most banks already have tie-ups with all three credit card networks, therefore, “It should not be much of a problem in allowing customers to select their preferred card network at the time of issue.”

Once the operational details are made clear by the banks, there would emerge a much clearer picture of how customers can change their card network provider for existing cards, Mr Shetty adds.