Biden promises to reform H-1B visa system, eliminate country quota for Green Cards

If voted to power in vember general elections, a Biden ministration will reform H-1B visa system and work towards eliminating country-quota system for Green Cards, his campaign said on Saturday, in a move to woo influential Indian-American community.

H-1B visa is a n-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require oretical or technical expertise. Companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

In a major policy document for Indian-Americans released on occasion of India's 74th Independence Day, Biden Campaign also emphasised its support to family-based immigration system and streamlining processing for religious worker visas.

ministration will also take steps to stem rising tide of hate and bigotry, dress security needs of house of worship, eliminate langu barriers and hour diversity and contributions of Indian-Americans, it said.

This is for first time that a Democratic presidential candidate has come out with an exclusive policy document for Indian-Americans. re are 1.3 million eligible Indian-American voters across eight battleground states. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is scheduled to dress Indian-American community in a video mess later in day.

Biden will support family-based immigration and preserve family unification as a core principle of our immigration system, which includes reducing family visa backlog, his campaign said.

"He will increase number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration based on macroecomic conditions and exempt from any cap recent gruates of PhD programmes in STEM fields," campaign said.

"And, he will support first reforming temporary visa system for high-skill, specialty jobs to protect ws and workers, n expanding number of visas offered and eliminating limits on employment-based Green Cards by country, which have kept so many Indian families in waiting for too long," it said.

According to policy document, Biden will restore and defend naturalisation process for Green Card holders. A Green Card allows a n-US citizen to live and work permanently in America.

"He will increase number of refugees we welcome into this country by setting annual global refugee missions target to 125,000 and seek to raise it over time to commensurate with our responsibility, our values, and unprecedented global need," it said.

"He will also work with Congress to establish a minimum missions number of 95,000 refugees annually. Biden will remove uncertainty for Dreamers by reinstating DACA programme and explore all legal options to protect ir families from inhumane separation," campaign said.

It said Biden will end workplace raids and protect or sensitive locations from immigration enforcement actions.

As a largely immigrant community, but in some cases with American roots reaching back generations, Indian-Americans kw firsthand strength and resilience that immigrants bring to US, campaign said.

"But President Trump has wd an unrelenting assault on our values and our history as a nation of immigrants. It's wrong, and it stops when Biden is president," it alleged.

"Biden will rescind Trump's Muslim ban on day one and reverse detrimental asylum policies that are causing chaos and a humanitarian crisis at our border,” campaign said.

"He will immediately begin working with Congress to pass legislative immigration reform that modernises our system, with a priority on keeping families toger by providing a romap to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants — including more than 500,000 from India,” it said.

Indian-Americans of all backgrounds — Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Jain, and ors — have been subjected to bullying and xephobic attacks and need w, more than ever, a reassurance that US leers in Washington will have ir backs, it said.

During Obama-Biden ministration, FBI expanded its hate crime statistics programme to include Sikhs, Hindus, and Buddhists. As President, Biden will directly dress rise in hateful attacks and enact legislation prohibiting someone convicted of a hate crime from purchasing or possessing a firearm, it said.

"Biden will appoint leers at Department of Justice who will prioritise prosecution of hate crimes, and he will order his Justice Department to focus ditional resources to combat hate crimes — including religion-based hate crimes — and to confront white nationalist terrorism," it said.

"He will also seek legislation that increases potential sentence for certain hate crimes that occur in houses of worship and or religious community sites, such as gurudwaras, mandirs, temples, and mosques. And, he will use his executive power to ensure that Department of Justice pursues such heius acts of violence against houses of worship to fullest extent of law," campaign said.

ting that in 2012, Sikh community suffered a terrible trdy when a white supremacist opened fire in an Oak Creek, Wisconsin, gurdwara, ultimately killing seven and wounding four, campaign ded that in January 2019, a Hindu temple was victim of a horrific act of vandalism and destruction, with windows shattered and xephobic messs spray-painted across walls.