US to start issuing H-1B visas next month: Foreign Secretary Shringla

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 20

The US government has agreed to start issuing H-1B category visas for Indian professionals in September, and by the end of the year, it may become possible to resume issuance of all categories of US visas, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said here on Friday.

The H-1B visa allows US employers to hire foreign workers for specialty jobs, with Indians among the major beneficiaries.

This is contingent on a continuous drop in the virus level and increasing pace of vaccination in India. The UK could go the same way, he said at the All India Management Association’s (AIMA) LeaderSpeak program.

Student visas are the highest priority for the MEA right now. The US and many western European countries are currently issuing visas to Indian students, and the MEA is trying to expedite those. The MEA is also talking to the Australian mission here to prevent delays in visa issuance to Indian students.

While student visas have resumed, the MEA is trying to persuade many countries, including the US and Canada, to issue visas for Indian professionals also. The Gulf countries would soon recognise Covishield, thus easing the woes for Indian workers and professionals working in that region.

The Foreign Secretary pointed out that no country was insisting on vaccination for entry at the moment, though it was a condition for easier entry. However, a time will come when most countries will start demanding vaccination certificates for entry. For that eventuality, the MEA s is negotiating bilateral recognition of vaccines with individual countries. “So far, no multilateral arrangement has been concluded,” he said.

India’s vaccine reciprocity negotiations are centered on mutual recognition of approved vaccines, he said, as India will keep adding more vaccines to its list of vaccines for reciprocal recognition, including Sputnik and Johnson.

Seventeen EU countries had recognised Covishield so far and have lifted the blanket ban on Indian travelers. Two countries — Estonia and Romania — have recognised Covaxin as well. Once the WHO approves Covaxin, India would work on reciprocal recognition of that vaccine also.

Speaking on Afghanistan, Shringla said the silver lining is the Taliban making the right noises and seeking international legitimacy and recognition, which they did not have the last time they ruled Afghanistan.

“We can work with a dispensation that is willing to look after the interests of the Afghan people,” he said.

Harsh Pati Singhania, President, AIMA, moderated the discussion with the foreign secretary while AIMA DG Rekha Sethi anchored the session.