NRI Top Stories ( Page 1 of 30 )

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59,000 Indians get US Citizenship in 2023 February 12, 2024 07:47

India was the second highest contributor of new citizens to the United States in 2023, with over 59,000 Indians officially becoming citizens, according to a report by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The report also states that a total of 870,000 foreign nationals gained US citizenship in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, with Mexico being the top provider at 110,000, followed by India at 59,100. To be eligible for citizenship, individuals typically need to have been lawful permanent residents for at least five years, although there are exceptions for certain groups, such as spouses of US citizens or those with military service. The majority of new citizens in FY 2023 met the requirement of being lawful permanent residents for at least five years, followed by those who were married to US citizens for three years or had served in the military during specific periods. In general, individuals must have a minimum of five years of lawful permanent residency, while spouses of US citizens need at least three years of residency to be eligible for citizenship. The average duration of lawful permanent residency for citizens naturalized in FY 2023 was seven years.

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Two Indian Employees Sentenced To Prison in USA February 03, 2024 08:51

Three individuals who previously worked for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been given sentences for participating in a plot to unlawfully acquire exclusive software and confidential law enforcement databases from the US government for personal gain. Notably, two of these individuals are of Indian nationality. Sonal Patel, a 49-year-old resident of Sterling, Virginia, received a two-year probationary period as part of her sentence. In April 2019, Patel admitted guilt in the conspiracy to steal government property. Murali Y Venkata, a 58-year-old resident of Aldie, Virginia, was sentenced to four months of imprisonment. In April 2022, Venkata was found guilty by a jury for conspiring to steal government property, defraud the United States, commit wire fraud, and destroy records. Charles K Edwards, a 63-year-old resident of Sandy Springs, Maryland, was sentenced to one year and six months of imprisonment. Edwards pleaded guilty in January 2022 for his involvement in the conspiracy.

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Stabbed Indian student at a US Gym, dies November 09, 2023 10:21

An Indian student was stabbed at a fitness centre in the state of Indiana of USA and the incident took place on October 29th. The 24-year-old student passed away on Wednesday in a private hospital. The deceased was identified as Varun Raj Pucha who is a computer science student at Valparaiso University. He was stabbed in the head by 24-year-old Jordan Andrade told the cops. The official statement told "It is with heavy hearts that we share the passing of Varun Raj Pucha. Our campus community has lost one of its own, and our thoughts and prayers go out to Varun's family and friends as we mourn this devastating loss,". The accused was arrested and he was charged with attempt of murder and aggravated battery. Jordan Andrade told the cops that Varun had plans to assassinate him. He also said that they never met before the attack but he said that someone told him that Varun was threatening. The cops said "Officers also spoke with Planet Fitness staff who indicated that (the stabbed man) was a regular gym member and generally kept to himself, was quiet and reserved, nothing indicating that he was 'creepy". Andrade found Varun weird and walked close to him. When Varun tried to push him, Andrade started attacking. He agreed that he attacked Varun in the head with a knife. The University campus said that a memorial service will be held on November 16th. Varun Raj comes from Khammam district of Telangana and he is doing his MS in Computer Science from August 2022.

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Four-Indian Origin Family Members Died In New Jersey October 06, 2023 14:41

An Indian-origin family of four was found dead in New Jersey. Police in Plainsboro suspect a murder-suicide. County Prosecutor Yolando Ciccone said that they found them dead in their residence, where on Wednesday evening, police went to check their welfare after a request was raised. Tej Pratap Singh, 43, Sonal Parihar 42 and their 10-year-old son and six-year-old daughter were found dead. Police have trashed the shooting rumours. For now, police are investigating the case. All four bodies were sent to autopsies, which will be performed on Thursday and will take more time for reports. Plainsboro Mayor Peter Cantu has informed the public about the news on his X platform. He wrote, “ What happened in our community is beyond comprehension”. According to the primary investigation, police have found that the man had killed his family and then killed himself. The parents of the couple claim in front of the media that they are a happy couple and they were unable to believe what happened to their children. One among them used to work in the information technology sector and another partner in human resources.

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Sad Truth Of Proxy Life Of Telugu people In the USA August 21, 2023 07:56

Proxy lives of an NRI is a disturbing truth. Starting from writing a GRE exam to getting a job in any prestigious IT company, Proxy are behind Telugu people. It is very easy for a very normal student to get I20 with a good GRE score, which will be written by a Proxy. They will even don?t know how to write one complicated word spelling, but get good score because of Proxy. After getting a seat at any University in the USA, it is not tough for a student to pass semesters as even to write exams and do projects many proxies will be available in Universities. It's a known truth for everyone that only the top 100 to 200 universities in the US will offer a better and strict education system, rather than that all the other Universities are mostly desperate for money. They just want a student who pays lakhs of rupees fee. Students who go to the USA will be busy doing jobs and earning money rather than studying and finishing their degree with good grades. With this problem worthy candidates, like those who got a seat in any university with a good score, will be struggling to get grades so as to get placements or to get good jobs. Now after getting the degrees with the help of Proxy, people are out and free to find a job. Here Desi consultancies are going to help these Proxy candidates to get a good job with a fancy salary. A proxy will attend the interview and in the HR round, the consultancies will buy the HR with some fancy amount. They provide a fake green card and get a job. If the candidate gets caught providing a fake green card, HR will be safe by saying that even he was cheated, and the candidate needs to face circumstances like jail or deportation. With this sort of system, many are doing 3 to 4 jobs. In the USA, there will be no job pressure on the employee in the early stages of their career, which is helping these types of people. It is easy for an above-average student also to get 3-4 jobs. Work From Home has turned out to be a blessing for such type of people. So they are refusing to go to workplaces nowadays because they need to quit other jobs. Many techies from India are working in the USA, and with this Proxy, many talented people are struggling in the US without jobs. Even citizens are struggling. When people are caught in such activities, desi's run to Mexico through Texas and then return to India. After returning to India, with earned money, they will invest in movies or in politics. That is the reason such people will never visit the USA even after getting an invitation from a big organization after coming back. The saddest truth is only Telugu people live a proxy life in every step of America. Even Mexicans suffer for jobs and will not do this Proxy business. Only Telugu-speaking people are migrating to America like this. Parents sending their children even knowing about the proxy consultancies might get caught in trouble. Go to the USA only with talent and honesty, but not with the help of Proxy. If in 2024, the Republican Party comes into power, there is a strong chance of taking action against this proxy system of Telugu people.

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Rice Shortage: NRIs in queue July 22, 2023 14:26

The Indian government has banned the export of rice fearing of shortage. India is the world’s largest supplier of food, covering up to 40 per cent of global exports and leaving three billion people rely on this. With the ban, NRI living in the USA were in queues outside super markets to buy the leftover stock of rice bags. Supermarkets have restricted the purchase to one bag, where NRI’s are roaming around the city to buy sufficient amount of rice bags. Because of the Ukraine and Russia wars, the import of wheat flour has been stopped, which resulted in the consumption of more rice in the country. The crops with the effect of El Nino have less harvest. All these reasons resulted in the shortage of rice. Union government as a precautionary measure of scarcity in the country has stopped the export of non-basmati white rice. This is the largest shortage of rice in 20 years. Rice inflation has already accelerated from an average of 6 per cent to nearly 12 per cent.Bad weather in China and Pakistan is also one of the reasons for the shortage. Prices of rice are expected to see a hike soon and the government is already thinking over the subsidy prices in the markets.

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Australian Universities Ban Central Indian States Student Applications May 26, 2023 11:00

This was a shocking decision by the Australian universities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia a few days back and signed a migration deal about the exchange of students, graduates, researchers and business people. Narendra Modi and the Australian prime minister has a bilateral meeting and three days before this meeting was held, universities took this decision following the visa fraud. According to the Australian media, students from Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Uttara Pradesh will no longer get seats at Federation University in Victoria and Western Sydney University. Both universities have separately announced that there will be no intake of students from mentioned states (Centarl Indian States) of India. The ban will be for two months for now. According to the Department of Home Affairs, one of four applications is being labelled as fraud or non-genuine. There was a huge dropout of students, who started their course in 2022. Victoria University, Edith Cowan University, the University of Wollongong, Torrens University, as well as agents affiliated with Southern Cross University, have also tightened their recruitment process for Indian students. Students are obtaining their student visas by joining the less expensive educational universities and later working for low-skill Australian work. However, the work hours will be restricted from July 1st to 24 hours per week by the Albanese administration.

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Indian Women Shot Dead in USA May 11, 2023 15:13

A Bengali woman Nabaruna Karmakar, 33, was found dead by police, when her husband Michael Mathews, 40, called 911 to report a double suicide after shooting his wife on April 14th. Nabaruna was brutally killed and Mathews has been charged with first-degree murder charges. Nabaruna Karmakar graduated from Manipal University and earned a PhD from North Carolina State University in industrial engineering. She was married to Mathews in 2019 and she was a senior operations research specialist at SAS. Her death shocked all her colleagues. Karmakar was very social, she organized a Holi Party and was also planning for Bengali new year's Eve. After Karmakar’s death, her family and colleagues started a GoFundMe page and raised $11,000 and said that is a very small initiative from their side to stop the gun culture in the USA. Tapan and Sipra Karmakar live in Michigan and stay with their elder daughter after the death of Nabaruna in April. They said that the gun used for their daughter's death was a recent gift and was used as a decorative item at their house.

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Four Indian Family Members Found Dead In USA's California October 06, 2022 11:09

Four Sikh family members from India residing in USA have been kidnapped by unknown people earlier this week that included an eight-month-old baby girl. All the four Indian family members are found dead in an orchard as per the authorities. The family hails from Hoshiarpur's Harsi Pind in Punjab. They were kidnapped from their trucking business in Merced County in California on Monday. Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke announced the news of their demise today. The deceased were identified as Jasdeep Singh (36 years), Jasleen Kaur (27 years), Aroohi Dheri (8 months) and the baby's uncle Amandeep Singh (39 years). Their bodies were found in an orchard near Indiana Road and Hutchinson Road. A farm worker near the orchard found the bodies and informed the cops. All the bodies were found at a place. Jesus Manuel Salgado is the suspect. Nothing was stolen from the trucking company and the family members' jewelry was stolen. An ATM card from the family was used in Atwater which is located 14 km north from Merced. The kidnapper Jesus Manuel Salgado had no ransom demands and the cops believe that it was a motivated crime. A video of the kidnap was released by the cops and the hunt for the family was on from some time. Jesus Manuel Salgado has been traced from the video and he is 48 years old. He was taken into custody on the afternoon of Tuesday. He was rushed to a hospital and his health condition remains critical after he attempted to kill himself.

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USA Issues 82,000 Student Visas For Indians September 08, 2022 11:02

The USA Mission in India issued a record number of 82.000 students visas for Indian students in 2022 till date. Indian students are on the top of the list in the number of student visas issued to any country. The US Embassy in New Delhi along with the other consulates (Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai) processed the student visas on a priority basis from May to August. The Embassy made sure that all the qualified students will reach the country as per their scheduled date. Patricia Lacina of USA hailed the US Mission and their achievement. "We are happy that so many students were able to recieve their visas on time and reach the universities without any delay. There was huge delay in the admissions in the past two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have issued 82,000 student visas in summer alone and this is quite higher than the visas issued last year. This shows that USA remains as the first priority for the most of the Indian families and students. The Indian students are in plans to build life long connections with the USA to grow in their life" told Patricia Lacina. Indian students comprise of nearly 20 percent of the international students in the United States of America.

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15 Percent of Indian Students Submit Fake Documents with Visa Applications September 05, 2022 07:41

In a sensational revelation, the German ambassador to India said that 15 percent of the Indian students applying for student visa are submitting fake documents. Philipp Ackermann, German Ambassador for India said that 15 percent of the applications are involved in fraud and it is the duty of the authorities to scrutinize the documents. There are some agents who are misleading the students and we have to ensure to pick up only the deserved students, told Philipp Ackermann. The situation is completely heartbreaking and the efforts are underway for the education in Germany. The authorities of Germany are in touch with selected universities to ensure that the students coming from India will not lose out their studies. Philipp Ackermann said that this has turned out to be a huge concern as we want Indian students to get visas quickly and smoothly. The solution for the same will be found soon to make the procedure smooth and transparent. Philipp Ackermann also clarified that some of the Indian students who already applied for visa will not be able to get it on time for the upcoming semester for some of the universities. With the travel restrictions lifted up after pandemic, most of the countries are struggling to meet the demands as there is a mad rush for student visas. Some of the nations have been issuing student visas on a priority basis for international students.

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USA to Process 8 Lakhs Visas in the Next One Year April 20, 2022 14:21

The Embassy of the United States of America in India is expected to process over 8 lakh visas in the next 12 months told a senior diplomat from the country. Donald L Heflin, Minister Counselor for Consular Affairs at the US Embassy told that 8 lakh visas are projected to be issued in the next one year and the slots for the processing of the visas are opened. He said that 1.2 million visas were issued before the outbreak of coronavirus. The sales would be back on the track in 2023 as per the update. The staff across India will be increased and the visa processing was done by 50 percent of the staff. More and more number of employees will be added and a new building is getting opened in Hyderabad. A dedicated helpline is set up to address the queries that are related to the visa applicants. All the consulates are having a dedicated phone number along with an email address through the visa applicants can contact the Embassy for assistance and other appointment-related queries. A higher number of visas are kept on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic and more announcements would be made in the coming weeks. By Siva Kumar

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