By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Saturday signed a presidential proclamation titled “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” on Friday.
The move imposed a steep annual fee on H-1B applications including renewals for skilled foreign workers outside the US.
The proclamation signed by the US Trump administration on Friday imposing an annual cost of USD 100,000 on fresh and renewal applications for H-1B visas has triggered a sharp response from India.
H-1B visa is the most widely used route for Indian professionals seeking work in America. The revised fee takes effect on September 21.
Amitabh Kant, the former CEO of NITI Aayog and ex-G20 Sherpa, said the decision would ultimately hurt US innovation and benefit India, termed the US announcement as a loss for America and gain for India,.
Kant believes the high fees as restrictive and believes it will translate into a boon for the Indian innovation ecosystem.
He said the massive fee hike will eventually stifle foreign talent inflows into the US and redirect global brains to India’s tech hubs like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, and Gurugram.
Kant on X said the development is a great opportunity for India’s top doctors, engineers, scientists, and innovators to contribute towards a ‘Viksit Bharat’.
“Donald Trump’s 100,000 H-1B fee will choke US innovation, and turbo charge India’s. By slamming the door on global talent, America pushes the next wave of labs, patents, innovation and startups to Bangalore and Hyderabad, Pune and Gurgaon. India’s finest doctors, engineers, scientists, innovators have an opportunity to contribute to India’s growth & progress towards Viksit Bharat. America’s loss will be India’s gain,” the former NITI Aayog CEO wrote.
Kant’s reaction came as Trump signed a presidential proclamation titled “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” on Friday. The move imposes a steep annual fee on H-1B applications including renewals for skilled foreign workers outside the US.
The revised visa cost came into force on September 21 and will tackle what the Trump administration described as widespread abuse of the H-1B programme.
It has been alleged that the programme is being misused by IT outsourcing firms to displace American workers and suppress wages.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said. “A company that wants to buy an H-1B visa… it’s USD 100,000 per year,” The visa will maintain its current structure: three years with one possible renewal for a total of six years.
The former CEO of Snapdeal, Kunal Bahl expects a huge chunk of skilled professionals to come back to India following the development.
“Because of the new H-1B rules, a tremendous number of talented individuals are going to be headed back to India. It will no doubt be tough in the beginning to move base, but will work out for them given the tremendous opportunities in India. The talent density in India is going up,” Bhal posted on X.
Harish Bijoor, brand guru and founder, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, called the H-1B visa fee hike part two of the tariff bomb.
“The H-bomb has been dropped and this H-bomb is really the H-1B VISA bomb. The United States of America is telling Indian IT and possibly India, ‘we don’t want you, we don’t need you’. I do believe that this is serious messaging coming to India, how to react to it and how to actually manage it with diplomacy… I do believe this is version 2.0 of the tariff bomb,” Bijoor said.
Former diplomat KP Fabian called this Trump’s self-goal which will hit the American economy. “ To put it mildly, it’s an atrocity and unnecessary. It will hit Indians, but it will also hit the American economy because the young Indians are providing a good part of the brain power required to take the American economy forward. He (US President Trump) is keen on scoring a self-goal…”
Ex-diplomat, Anil Trigunayat described this as a regressive step.
He told media outlet “I think it is in keeping with his various statements that he has been making ever since, especially to please his MAGA constituency…This is a regressive step in my view, because India is the only country today which would provide talent to the world until 2050. If you want to cut off your nose to spite your face, so be it.”
The Congress party said the US move will affect the brightest minds from India.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi posted on X: “With the recent decision on H-1B visas the American government have hit at the future of the best and brightest minds from India. I still remember the boldness of former PM Manmohan Singh when one IFS lady diplomat was insulted in the US. Now PM Modi’s preference for strategic-silence and loud optics has become a liability for the national interest of India and her citizens.”
