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Jobless techies in US to get relief from deportation

Thousands of techies from India and other countries who lost their jobs in the United States due to the economic slump would now get some reprieve as authorities here are planning to extend the grace period for them to find alternative jobs.

"We are working on regulations that would allow foreign workers to have a lapse of a certain time between jobs where they would still be in valid (immigrant) status", Immigration and Naturalisation Services spokeswoman Eyleen Schmidt was quoted by The Washington Post newspaper as saying.

It said that the move was "prodded by immigration activists and corporate America".

At present, if an H1-B visa-holder loses job, he or she has to find an alternative position or face deportation.

Various immigration and corporate groups have asked the INS for a grace period of six months, but Schmidt said the agency has not decided how long it should be.

"Hopefully, by July, we'll have temporary field guidance for officers," she said, "and an actual regulation by August."

As the economy has slowed over the last several months, thousands of H-1B visa-holders, half of them Indians, have been laid off, just as American workers have.

The total number of H-1B visa-holders is put at half a million.

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