Trump’s order puts children of immigrants in a ‘stateless’ limbo

One of the first executive orders to be passed by new US president Donald Trump, which rescinded America’s “citizenship by birthright” has created huge uncertainty bordering on panic for children of immigrants who are on work visas in the country. Lawyers and experts told ET that for the children, the order creates a phase of being ‘stateless’ for a brief period as they may be without authorisation since there is no visa category for children of temporary immigrants.“Children born to Indian nationals in the US might inherit their parents’ immigration status rather than gaining citizenship, potentially leaving them stateless unless their parents take extra steps to register them under Indian nationality laws. This could create serious legal and humanitarian issues for families already navigating complex immigration processes,” Keshav Singhania of law firm Singhania & Co told ET.

India sends the highest number of international students in the US, at 28% of the total pool. Close to half of all US H-1B work visa applicants (700,000) and selections (219,000) in the last four years are of people of Indian origin, estimates show. The biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa programme are, however, American companies such as Google, Amazon, Meta among others who have grown their H1B dependency by 189% over the last eight years.

“The executive order challenges the constitutional right of citizenship by birth which was ratified through the 14th Amendment in 1868,” said Poorvi Chothani, managing partner of LawQuest, an immigration law firm. “Therefore, the order will definitely face multiple litigation.”

The American Civil Liberties Union has already sued the Trump Administration within hours of its signing.

Meanwhile, early-stage startup founders and researchers who are usually on visas such as L-1, O-1, EB-1/2/3 may reconsider their decision to set up offices in Silicon Valley even as there is a great demand for such talent amid the AI rage. According to global talent services firm AMS, India is the second largest source of AI talent after the United States with more than 1.9 million professionals skilled in AI. According to Traxcn, there are 549 active startups with offices in both the US and India.

“We have a long-term plan to move headquarters to the US and raise close to $200 million in the next six-seven months,” said the founder of an AI model training startup who has taken the EB-1 route to register a subsidiary in the US. “Currently, the wait time of entering the green card queue through EB-1 is 9-11 months. But, given the atmosphere, time will tell how I proceed on the personal front.” “Another significant issue is the impact on families stuck in the green card backlog. Many Indian nationals on H-1B or other temporary visas face decades-long wait for permanent residency due to per-country limits on green card allocations,” Singhania said.