Hyderabad: Since the US President Donald Trump has imposed new restriction on H1B visas the matrimonial market in India has been hit in a big way.
Earlier software professionals in the US on an H1B visa were the most sought after as potential grooms; but now
parents are looking for software professionals settled in Hyderabad itself or in Canada, UK or Australia. Matrimonial websites and organisations that specialised in NRI matches have seen a 50 per cent drop in applications for grooms with the once desirable qualification of working in the US.
According to a Hyderabad based Marriage Bureau parents are rejecting software professionals in the US on H1B and demanding either green card holders or H1B holders with skills that meet the requirements of the US government.
Similarly a matrimonial website operating from Hyderabad also agreed that the demand for US techies had dropped. And no one is showing interest in NRI marriages.
Even already fixed matches also seem to be at risk, as according to a report published in Deccan Chronicle, parents who have scheduled the marriages of their daughters for this summer with techies working in the US have postponed the wedding awaiting further developments.
It must be noted that the Trump government has reduced the Optional Practical Training Period from three years to one year, due to this nearly 10,000 professionals working in America and waiting for H1B will come back to India by the end of this financial year.
Apart from the H1B visa issue, racist attacks on Indians in the US have also created concern among parents of prospective brides hence the desirability of an NRI match has changed. Most parents of brides are now turning to well-settled grooms locally.