UPSC Current Affairs Quiz, 8 October 2026

Explanation

Pair 1 is correctly matched: the H-1B is indeed a temporary, non-immigrant work visa that allows US employers to hire foreign nationals in speciality occupations — this is a foundational distinction between H-1B and pathways to permanent residency. Pair 2 is incorrectly matched: the PERM process is NOT initiated by the individual worker. Unlike a visa application, which is primarily the individual's action, a PERM filing is made by the employer on behalf of the worker. The employer must first obtain a prevailing wage determination and carry out prescribed recruitment before filing. This employer-led character of PERM is central to understanding why Indian IT firms' Green Card sponsorship pipelines are so vulnerable to firm-level suspensions — if the employer is barred from filing, the worker has no alternative individual route. Pair 3 is correctly matched: the priority date is indeed the date on which the US Department of Labour accepts the labour certification application, and it determines the worker's position in the employment-based immigrant visa queue. For Indian nationals, who face extreme backlogs (the EB-3 final-action date in September 2026 was as far back as January 2014), the priority date is of enormous practical consequence — inability to begin the PERM process means no priority date, and therefore no movement through the queue at all.