In a jolt to Indian techies in the US, the country has extended the temporary suspension of premium processing for H1-B visas in a bid to clear the backlog.
The suspension was originally slated to last until September 10, 2018. But it has now been extended until February 19 next year, reported news agency PTI.
Premium processing helps shorten the usual processing time of H-1B visa petitions from an average of six months to 15 days for a fee of $1,225 (Rs 86,181). This feature allowed some companies to jump the queue.
According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the temporary suspension will help reduce overall H-1B processing times by allowing it to process long-pending petitions. The agency has been unable to process them due to the high volume of incoming petitions and premium processing requests over the past few months, reported PTI.
The temporary suspension will allow the US CIS to be responsive to petitions with time-sensitive start dates and prioritise adjudication of H-1B extension of status cases that are nearing the 240-day mark.
The maximum number of H-1B petitions are from high-skilled Indians. The US CIS received a maximum of 2.2 million H-1B petitions from high-skilled Indians between 2007 and 2017. India was followed by China with 301,000 H-1B petitions during the same period.
During his campaign, President Donald Trump had vowed to make H-1B visa policy tougher. However, according to an Indian American donor and supporter of Trump, this issue is unlikely to cause trouble in US's ties with India.
"President Trump first and foremost is a businessman. He knows how to grow US as a business. He is pretty clear on the position of US Chambers of Commerce that in order to grow the American economy, you need a lot of IT experts and professionals," Chicago-based Shalabh 'Shalli' Kumar told PTI.
"My expectation is that there would be a good monitoring of abuse and fraud in H-1B system. There is a little bit of that, not much. Otherwise when the US economy grows 4-5% per year, there is going to be a very big need of IT workers and IT work, which will still be primarily be going to India and Indians," he added.
Clifford had previously pleaded guilty to the murders of BBC sports commentator John Hunt’s wife and two daughters at their home in northwest of London, in July 2024. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Crossbow murderer found guilty of raping ex-girlfriend
A 26-YEAR-OLD man who murdered three women in a crossbow and stabbing attack has been found guilty of raping one of them, his ex-girlfriend, a British court ruled on Thursday.
Kyle Clifford had previously pleaded guilty to the murders of BBC sports commentator John Hunt’s wife and two daughters at their home in Bushey, northwest of London, in July 2024.
The attack led to a manhunt before Clifford was found injured hours later in a north London cemetery.
A jury at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday convicted Clifford of raping 25-year-old Louise Hunt before killing her.
His sentencing for all the crimes is scheduled for Tuesday.
Clifford had admitted to murdering Carol Hunt, 61, and her daughters Louise and Hannah, 28. He had also pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment and possessing offensive weapons but denied raping Louise.
During the trial, the court heard that after killing Carol Hunt, Clifford waited for an hour before attacking Louise, tying her up, raping her, and then killing her with a crossbow. He later killed Hannah when she returned home from work.
The prosecution described Clifford, a former soldier, as committing a "violent, sexual act of spite" and said he was "enraged" after Louise ended their 18-month relationship. They told the court that he had "carefully planned" the attack.
Less than 24 hours before the killings, Clifford had searched for a podcast by social media influencer Andrew Tate, according to the prosecution. They argued that the murders were driven by the "violent misogyny promoted" by Tate.
Justice Joel Bennathan called Clifford’s crimes "dreadful" and "almost unspeakable".
(With inputs from AFP)