H1B visa norms tightened, Indian techies explore illegal routes

NEW DELHI: With the US tightening H1B visa norms amid a significant peak drop in the number of US visas being issued, there is a possibility that some Indian software engineers may also be trying their luck to enter the land of opportunity via illegal routes in Mexico and Hungary, IANS has learnt.
On Friday, Mexican immigration authorities deported 311 Indians — 310 men and one woman – who reached New Delhi on Friday evening, which is the largest ever deportation in the Mexican history of the trans-Atlantic deportation by air.
India has been urging the US to be more liberal in issuing H1B visas to engineers and IT professionals but to no avail. Owing to this, tech companies headquartered in the US are facing a dearth of talented software engineers since the H1B visa norms were tightened.
This may have led Indian techies to take dangerous routes usually taken by undocumented immigrants to reach the US.
The most popular route to enter the US illegally for Indians in Mexico is to hitch rides and reach the western city of Guadalajara.
The other popular spot for Indians to enter the US illegally is Budapest in Hungary. US officials recently uncovered a fraud scheme that has allowed foreign nationals to enter the US under false identities, via using vulnerabilities in Hungary’s passport system.