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India, China to explore pact on relaxed biz visa regime during Li’s visit

Written by lisa on May 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment

India and China might sign the much-awaited pact on establishing a relaxed visa regime for the business communities during the upcoming visit of the new Chinese premier Li Keqiang. Keeping border tensions aside, it seems the new Chinese leadership is keen on forging greater business ties with India by establishing industrial parks and economic corridors here, even as India grapples with the problem of a burgeoning trade deficit with it.

According to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, India will make sure that Chinese investments get a smoother entry into India. Khurshid, who was on two-day visit to Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, also met Li Keqiang and discussed issues of bilateral importance.

“Trade must come with travel. A relaxed visa regime is most important for businesses to flow, investments to flow. Business has to travel, and for that it is important both the countries have an easier bias regime for its businessmen. We might sign or not sign an agreement on this during the visit of the Chinese premier,” Khurshid told reporters here today. Read more »

Categories: Visa Policy - Tags: , ,

US working with India to streamline education visa process

Written by lisa on May 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment

The United States is working with the Indian Government to stream line the latter’s education visa, which is being considered as a major hindrance for American students wanting to go to the country for education, a top Obama Administration official has said.

Currently, while more than 100,000 Indian students come to the US for study every year, the number of American students who studied in India in 2011-2012 was a mere 4,300 and far less than those going to China for studies.

Even as more American students would like to go to India for studies, not many are able to travel because of the difficulties they face in getting the education visa.

“We recognise that there are indeed challenges and hindrances which have prevented more American students from choosing India as a destination,” the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia,Robert Blake, told students at the Boston University yesterday. Read more »

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Study in the US: Stricter student visa procedures

Written by lisa on May 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment

The US department of Homeland and Security has announced stricter student visa checks for international students, including those from India.

The change comes after the Boston Bombings on April 15 this year. One of the students associated in the bombings entered the US on a student visa after he ceased to be a student.

The problem was that the border agent at the airport did not have access to SEVIS, the Homeland Security Department’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information Service.

Under current procedures, a student’s visa status could only be verified under SEVIS if a student was taken for additional questioning.

This has now been changed as border agents will have access to the SEVIS database. Read more »

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Green card lottery, a ticket to hope for many, could be eliminated

Written by lisa on May 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment

In the contentious debate over immigration policy, three groups have dominated public and political attention: the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants seeking to become legal, the skilled foreign workers bound for high-tech jobs and relatives waiting to be reunited with their families.

Then there are those who won the green card lottery.

This tiny visa program, aimed at diversifying the pool of immigrants to the United States, selects 55,000 applicants at random each year. Unlike the other U.S. visa programs, it offers the “winners” and their spouses and children U.S. residency with almost no strings attached. Although the odds of winning are infinitesimal, the program is so wildly popular that last year almost 8?million people applied. And now it is likely to be quietly cut. Read more »

Categories: US Immigration - Tags: , ,

‘Proposed H-1B visa cap to hurt economic growth of US, India’

Written by lisa on May 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment

From corporate America to Indian techies to Indian-Americans with family ties to their native land – all are lobbying hard to influence changes in the proposed immigration law that has started moving through the US legislative labyrinthine.

Concerned that some “aggressively protectionist” provisions in the bipartisan legislation proposed by the so-called Senate Gang of Eight would adversely affect US-India trade ties, a leading association of over 300 US firms doing business with India is engaging a lobbying firm as it once did to push the landmark India-US nuclear deal.

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) argues that the proposed ban and restrictions on client site placement of H-1B and L-1 workers respectively and a limit on their total percentage in a company’s workforce in the US would disproportionally affect Indian-born, highly-skilled workers. Read more »

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US orders new visa checks for international students

Written by lisa on May 11, 2013 · Leave a Comment

The new procedure is the government’s first security change directly related to the Boston Marathon bombings last month.

The order, effective immediately, was issued by a senior official at US Customs and Border Protection, David J. Murphy.

It was circulated on Thursday, a day after the Obama administration acknowledged that a student from Kazakhstan accused of hiding evidence for one of the Boston bombing suspects was allowed to return to the US in January without a valid student visa.

The student visa for Azamat Tazhayakov had been terminated when he arrived in New York on Jan. 20. But the border agent in the airport did not have access to the information in the Homeland Security Department’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, called SEVIS. Read more »

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H1B visa rejection rates at all-time high for Indian IT cos

Written by lisa on May 6, 2013 · Leave a Comment

If the backlash of the proposed immigration reforms wasn’t bad enough for the Indian IT sector, sources told CNBC-TV18′s Kritika Saxena that the H1B visa rejection rates for the Indian IT sector may have touched an all-time high.

The applications for H1B visa for FY14 began in April, and within a week they touched 65,000.  As per the initial data that has been collected, the H1B visa rejection rate for Indian IT companies has touched 60 percent, the highest that it has ever touched.

The issue of H1B visa rejection has been on and the industry body The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) has been taking it up since some time.

Given the fact that 60 percent is the highest, sources told CNBC-TV18 that Nasscom will be taking this up with US government officials and a couple of government officials from India as well. Read more »

Categories: H-1B Visa - Tags: ,

US orders new visa reviews for arriving students

Written by lisa on May 6, 2013 · Leave a Comment

The Homeland Security Department ordered border agents “effective immediately” to verify that every international student who arrives in the U.S. has a valid student visa, according to an internal memorandum obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The new procedure is the government’s first security change directly related to the Boston bombings.

The order from a senior official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, David J. Murphy, was circulated Thursday and came one day after the Obama administration acknowledged that a student from Kazakhstan accused of hiding evidence for one of the Boston bombing suspects was allowed to return to the U.S. in January without a valid student visa.

The student visa for Azamat Tazhayakov had been terminated when he arrived in New York on Jan. 20. But the border agent in the airport did not have access to the information in the Homeland Security Department’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, called SEVIS. Read more »

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Expatriate workers find wealth of positions worldwide

Written by lisa on April 25, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Working abroad is just part of the job for many professionals in the oil and gas industry, driving expatriate employment around the globe. For engineers, geologists and other professionals, the opportunities to work overseas are abundant, and the benefits attached to these expatriate positions are well worth the journey.

Saudi Aramco, a national oil and natural gas company, has both the largest proven crude oil reserves and largest daily oil production. Robert Britt, a member of staffing services at Aramco Services Co., said his division, a U.S. subsidiary for Saudi Aramco, recruits for professionals to fill a broad range of positions to support the company’s worldwide jobs and projects.

“From drilling and workover engineers, to geologists, petrophysicists, hydrogeologists, reservoir engineers and sedimentologists, we are looking for engineers to join our team working on a number of large-scale activities,” Britt said. Read more »

Categories: Saudi Arabia Work Policy - Tags: ,

Delhi Govt. increases minimum wages

Written by lisa on April 20, 2013 · Leave a Comment

The Delhi Government has decided to implement the revised rates of minimum wages for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled categories in all scheduled employments, Labour Minister A.K. Walia said on Monday. The new rates, which have been worked out after adjustment of dearness allowances, have come into effect from April 1, 2013 and will extend to clerical and non-technical supervisory staff as well.

Now the monthly minimum wages of unskilled workers has been fixed at Rs.7,722 (previously Rs.7,254) and per day wage has gone up from Rs.279 to Rs.297. The monthly wages for semi-skilled workers has gone up from Rs.8,528 to Rs.8,008 (per day wage from Rs.308 to Rs.328) and for skilled workers the new wages have been fixed at Rs.9,386 (previously Rs.8,814) increasing the per day wage to Rs.361 from Rs.339. Read more »

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