One superannuated notion obliquely says that an Indian IT Engineers in the US who has got onsite is apparent to be a prospective candidate for a girl. However this may not have been factually perceived back then, but such has been the mindset. But now, as per reports, the big-fat-wedding dream of families and decades-old covet of having prospective NRI grooms is certainly losing its chair of royalty.
In the backdrop of Donald Trump’s election as the President of United States in the year 2016, myriad of events happened, were grasped upon and chronicled. His anti-immigrant tenets which included the diminution of H-1B Visa agendas had unsuited chain-reaction. This has majorly affected the Indian American population in the United States, given the factual data, that they were a major beneficiary of this provision.
According to the 2010 United States Census, the Indian population in the United States grew from almost 1,678,765 in 2000 to 2,843,391 in 2010, but now is witnessing a steady decline in its global economic spectrum. As per reports, Indian Immigrants in the US are Technology’s new titans. There are 89,000 Indians living in Silicon Valley, according to the Migration Policy Institute, with most of the families involved in the tech industry. However, the act of Trump’s curbs on H-1B Visa has been threatening the Job market, which is alarming since India’s IT sector uses to send thousands of highly skilled engineers to America every year. As per reports, IT engineers, once hot property in the marriage market, are no longer held in high regard anymore.
Addressing The Elephant
How has it technically affected the marital outlook of the Indians, you ask? An Obama-era rule allowed H-4 visa to spouses to work while H-1B visa holders sought for permanent citizenship which usually was a decade-long process. The Trump administration is planning to end allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders to work legally in the US. As per a report, this could affect more than 70,000 H-4 visas holders, who have work permits. US-based Indian IT Engineers have been the most sought-after prospective grooms but Trump’s decision of clamping down immigrants has not only affected the job security of Indian techies working in the US, it has also affected their marriage. Apart from visa restrictions, pay-cuts and Layoff have jaded the marriage prospects of Indian techies. A recent study by Migration Policy Institute states that the US has issued employment authorization documents to more than 71,000 spouses of H-1B visa holders, over 90 percent of whom are Indians.
“Trump’s [immigration clamp down] decision has not only affected the job security of Indian techies working in the US, it has also affected the marriage of NRI [Non-Resident Indian] grooms. At present, parents of girls prefer grooms from software companies based in India over NRIs, which used to be the other way round till just a few months back.” says, The MD of a Hyderabad-based marriage bureau, Dayakar.
The concern of parents being that spouse cannot accompany the groom to the states because of the rules laid down. Although there’s no evident data to ascertain the extent of the decline, NRI techies of marriageable age do agree that even their demand has dwindled. There’s a definite decline in interest in grooms who were software professionals or any way related to the IT Industry.
Reversing the traditional, decades-old preference of NRI IT-grooms has been a cakewalk for the Trump government. The quality of lifestyle of Techies in the US is a question mark. Unprecedented layoffs, prorogation, infliction of racial anxiety on Immigrant Engineers have duly contributed towards the decline in the marriage market. Tending towards the sporadic violence exhibiting the plight of Indian techies through licit reports, it’s pretty much evident that the Big-Indian-Wedding-Market has certainly shifted its preference.
