The Biden administration on Friday issued a formal notification to delay the implementation of the previous Trump regime’s controversial rule to raise mandatory minimum pay for foreign workers on the H-1B visa, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals.

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

The Department of Labour in its federal notification published on Friday said that it is considering whether to propose a further delay of the final rule’s effective date and accompanying implementation periods that are currently scheduled to take effect on May 14, 2021, and July 1, 2021, respectively.

Before further delaying the effective date and implementation periods, the Department will provide the public an opportunity to comment, it said. On February 1, the Department of Labour proposed to delay the effective date of the final rule entitled “Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States,” published in the  Federal Register on January 14, 2021, for a period of 60 days.

The Department proposed to delay the effective date of the final rule until May 14, 2021, in accordance with the Presidential directive as expressed in the memorandum of January 20, 2021, from the Assistant to the  President and Chief of Staff, entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review.”

As stated in the proposal, the 60-day delay would allow agency officials the opportunity to review any questions of fact, law, or policy. The Department invited written comments from the public for 15 days on  the proposed delay of effective date. All comments had to be received by February 16, 2021.