President Biden has issued a proclamation which bans visa stamping for thousands of immigrant workers traveling to their home countries (eg. India). Under this proclamation, only workers who get a NIE (national interest exception) and whose visa stamps are currently valid, can return back to the US.

H1B visa or L1B visa stamps are only valid for max 3 years and need to get renewed. Once you get the renewal (in the US), you still need to leave the US to get your H1B/L1B visa stamped. Every year, thousands of workers travel to their home countries to get the visa renewals stamped.

Also, for many foreign workers, their families/parents still stay in their home land (Eg. India).

Unfortunately, all the US consulates across the world have stopped stamping H1B/L1 visas and tourist visas, hence making it impossible for these workers to return back to the US if their visa stamps have expired.

Due to this travel ban, many workers have been stuck in their home countries (eg. India) for months, and have now lost their jobs, ending their careers, losing their homes, and sometimes getting separated from their local families in the US etc.

Additionally, with the recent covid wave in India, which killed millions of people, many workers couldn’t even visit their loved ones or say final goodbye to their deceased family members as they knew they would not be able to return back to the US. Imagine losing a parent or your sibling and not able to even give them their last rights.

Even though the travel ban was put in place under the pre-text that people can bring back the ‘Delta’ and other variants of Covid-19 back to the US, it exempts foreign students and green card holders from these countries who are coming to the US. 

How is it safe for a foreign student to come to the US, a US citizen or a green card holder to travel to that country (eg. India) and return back to the US, but  it's not safe for a foreign worker to travel back to that country (eg. India) to meet his family and return back to the US? Majority of these foreign workers are vaccinated in the US with US vaccinations – Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson or Moderna.

This travel ban has put a lot of mental health pressure on foreign workers as they are not able to visit their home countries. Foreign workers  are now forced to make a choice – you either risk your job and the life/home you have built in the US and go visit your family/parents and never come back to the US, or you stay in the US and never see your family again.

Also, since the travel ban includes a tourist visa stamp ban, many parents are not able to come and visit their kids in the US.

NIE and stopping visa stamping (of H1B and L1B visa) has been specifically put in place to discriminate against foreign workers to put pressure on them to quit their jobs and leave the US. 

We request President Biden, The White House and the US Senate to lift this discriminatory travel ban against foreign workers who are currently in the US, and allow visa stamping of H1B and L1B visas in the US consulates, and remove H1B/L1B visas from travel ban.