US L-1B Visa - India Asks For Clarity on "Specialised Knowledge"

Indian government has taken up the issue of L-1B visas with the US yet again and has asked for clarity on “Specialized Knowledge”. The Hindu BusinessLine has reported that India has asked the US to define the term in wake of rising visa rejections for L-1B applications. The issue was raised earlier during President Obama's India visit on the Republic day. The President assured that the issues pertaining to L-1B will be soon taken care of and since then the concerned US departments are looking into the issues and trying to resolve them. Many major Indian businesses have been hit because of rising rejection rates and have therefore urged the government to take the matter with the US. If the terms are properly defined the visa rejections won't be this high. It would give clarity to both the applicants and also the visa issuing officers. Higher rejection rate could also be because of application assessment; each official may view it differently if the guidelines are not in place. According to a report released by National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), the visa denial rate in 2014 for Indian applications alone was 34% and between 2012 and 2014, the denial rate was as high as 56%. So basing on the statistics, the Indian government has asked the US to clearly define what "Specialised Knowledge" in the new visa guidelines. Source: The Hindu BusinessLine