Associating herself with concern expressed by members about the new H1B visa policy impacting Indian professionals, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that she will take up the issue with her US counterpart Michael R Pompeo during the 2+2 dialogue scheduled for September 6 here.
The Indian Government on earlier occasions had taken up the issue with the US on several formal platforms including the White House, US Congress and states of US, she said while replying to a question raised by Anand Sharma(Congress) on US tightening HIB visa rules especially for Indians wanting to work in the US.
Informing the House that so far there were no major changes in new HIB rules, the minister said, however, the danger of visa regime may get stricter and the Indian government was monitoring the situation. She said the visas granted to the Indians had in fact gone up this year as compared to previous years. While 1,08,000 HIB visas were given in 2014, the figure now stood at 1,29,000, Swaraj said.