As a largely immigrant community, but in some cases with American roots reaching back generations, Indian-Americans know firsthand the strength and resilience that immigrants bring to the United States of America, according to a policy document issued by the Biden campaign.

“He (Biden) will immediately begin working with Congress to pass legislative immigration reform that modernizes our system, with a priority on keeping families together by providing a roadmap to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants — including more than 500,000 from India,” it said.

Biden will remove the uncertainty for Dreamers by reinstating the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) programme and explore all legal options to protect their families from inhumane separation. And, he will end workplace raids and protect other sensitive locations from immigration enforcement actions, it said. Launched by the Obama administration, the DACA is an immigration policy that allows some individuals with unlawful presence in the US after being brought to the country as children to receive a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation and become eligible for a work permit in the US. DACA recipients are often referred to as Dreamers. To be eligible for the programme, recipients cannot have felonies or serious misdemeanors on their records.

The post Biden Likely to Provide Citizenship to Over 5 Lakh Indians appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

The Government has now decided to make a graded relaxation in visa and travel restrictions for more categories of foreign nationals and Indian nationals who wish to enter or leave India.  Therefore, it has been decided to permit all OCI and PIO card holders and all other foreign nationals intending to visit India for any purpose, except on a Tourist Visa to enter by air or water routes through authorized airports and seaport immigration check posts.  This includes flights operated under Vande Bharat Mission, Air Transport Bubble arrangements or by any non scheduled commercial flights as allowed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. All such travelers will, however have to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding quarantine and other health/COVID-19 matters.

Under this graded relaxation, Government of India has also decided to restore with immediate effect all existing visas (except electronic visa, Tourist Visa and Medical Visa).  If the validity of such visas has expired, fresh visas of appropriate categories can be obtained from Indian Mission/Posts concerned.  Foreign nationals intending to visit India for medical treatment can apply for a Medical Visa including for their medical attendants. Therefore, this decision will enable foreign nationals to come to India for various purposes such as business, conferences, employment, studies, research, medical purposes etc.

Meanwhile India trend of steadily decreasing active cases continues unabated.  The Active Cases have been sustained below 10% of the total cases for the last three days suggesting only 1 in 10 cases are active COVID19 patients across the country.

Presently the active cases comprise merely 9.29% of the total positive cases of the country standing at 7,15,812.

Registering another milestone, the daily Positivity Rate has also been maintained to less than 5% over the past three days indicating that the spread of infection is being effectively contained through focussed strategies and actions of the Centre and the States/UTs. Today, the daily Positivity Rate is reported to be 3.8%.

The decrease in the daily positivity rate is simultaneously mapped by the falling active cases, which continue to be under 7.5L today (7,15,812).

The total recovered cases are close to 69 lakhs (68,74,518). The difference between active cases and recovered cases is consistently increasing and stands at 61,58,706 today.

79,415 patients have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours whereas the new confirmed cases are 55,839. The national Recovery Rate has progressed to 89.20%.

The post Relaxation in visa and travel restrictions appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

H-1B is the most coveted foreign work visas for technology professionals from India. Such a decision by the Trump administration is likely to have an adverse impact on thousands of Indian IT professionals. Already a large number of Indians on the H-1B visas have lost their jobs and are headed back home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Trump administration has argued that the coronavirus pandemic requires limits on immigration to prevent sick people from entering the country and to ensure that Americans get jobs first as the economy rebounds, the report said.

“The administration is currently evaluating a wide range of options, formulated by career experts, to protect American workers and job seekers, especially disadvantaged and underserved citizens—but no decisions of any kind have been made,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

A final decision on the issue is yet to be taken.

The Trump government is also said to be considering a proposal to increase H-1B visa application fee from $460 to $20,000. “It is also considering ending an Obama-era rule allowing spouses of H-1B workers to work on their visas. That could eliminate approximately 100,000 immigrants from the workforce over time,” the report said.

Besides the H-1B visa, H-2B visa for short-term seasonal workers, J-1 visa for short-term workers including camp counsellors and au pairs and L-1 visa for internal company transfers could also be suspended.

The post Trump may suspend H-1B visa appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

He said “strong but necessary” restrictions would not apply to the UK where 460 cases of the illness have been confirmed. “Europe saw more cases because governments failed to stop travel from China, where the COVID-19 epidemic began,” Mr Trump said in his address to the nation.

The move comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday called the coronavirus outbreak – which has spread to over 100 countries – a “pandemic”, issuing a grim warning that the global spread and severity of the illness was due to “alarming levels of inaction”.

Europe has faced a mounting number of cases — including a slew of new countries clocking first deaths — prompting governments to roll out increasingly tough measures to slow the rapid spread of the virus.

Hours before his official address, Mr Trump, in a series of tweets, said that “US is making a policy to prevent, detect, treat and create a vaccine against coronavirus to save lives in America and the world.”

America is the Greatest Country in the world. We have the best scientists, doctors, nurses and health care professionals. They are amazing people who do phenomenal things every day….,” he wrote in another post.
Trump asked the media to view this as a time of unity and strength and said the country must beat the “enemy of the World, the Coronavirus as quickly and safely as possible”.

The Washington on Wednesday declared a state of emergency over coronavirus. The mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, made the announcement as the US capital confirmed 10 cases of the infection

The post US Bans All Travel From Europe appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

“All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/international organizations, employment, project visas, stand suspended till 15th April 2020,” it said in the statement.

The order will come into effect from 1200 GMT on March 13.

The decision was taken at the meeting of group of ministers held here under the chairmanship of Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

“All existing visas, except diplomatic, official, UN/International organisations, employment and project visas stand suspended till 15th April 2020. This will come into effect from 1200 GMT on 13th March 2020 at the port of departure,” the statement said.

Visa-free travel facility granted to OCI card holders is also kept in abeyance till April 15.

Any foreign national who intends to travel to India for compelling reason may contact the nearest Indian Mission, the release said, adding that all incoming travellers, including Indian nationals, arriving from or having visited China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, France, Spain and Germany after February 15 will be quarantined for a minimum period of 14 days.

Over 1,18,000 positive cases have been reported globally across 114 countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11 said that according to its assessment, COVID-19 “can be characterised as a pandemic.”

“WHO has been assessing this outbreak round-the-clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” it said.

“Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The post Coronavirus a Pandemic: India shuts doors for outsiders appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.