India on Monday deployed a high-level delegation to the U.S. to hash out trade negotiations, as well as address the Trump administration’s latest immigration change, which is expected to affect hundreds of thousands of Indian workers.
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would be hiking up the application fee for skilled workers on the H-1B visa to $100,000 per applicant, up from fees that ranged between $2,000 -$5,000, going forward.
India, the chief recipient of the U.S.’s H-1B visas and which holds an estimated 70% of all skilled-workers visas, pushed back on the policy that went into effect Sunday.
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The Ministry of External Affairs over the weekend warned that the move could have “humanitarian consequences” while another minister suggested the global community was “a little afraid of our talent.”
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, along with External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, was set to meet U.S. officials Monday and boasted about India’s appeal to nations seeking free trade with New Delhi.
“They want to increase trade with India. They want to improve relations,” Goyal said, according to local media outlets. “They are also a little afraid of our talent. We have no objection to that either.”
Jaishankar is expected to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, though it is unclear if Goyal will also meet with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
While some warned the change could drive foreign skilled workers to other countries, the White House said the move followed reports that some companies, especially in tech, were “abusing” the program.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S $100K ONE-TIME FEE FOR NEW H-1B VISA APPLICATIONS SPARKS RAGING DEBATE
“H-1B visas are not being used to fill occupational shortages or obtain highly skilled workers who are unavailable in the United States,” the White House said in a statement. “Reports also indicate that many American tech companies have laid off their qualified and highly skilled American workers and simultaneously hired thousands of H-1B workers.”
The White House said that U.S. companies are taking advantage of the program by turning to “artificially low labor costs” paid to foreign workers and closing their own IT divisions — exacerbating a growing unemployment rate in the U.S.’s computer science and computer engineering sectors.
The Trump administration said that not only are these abuses preventing American employers in other industries from being able to turn to the H-1B program to fill skilled positions in which an American worker is unavailable, but it is creating a national security concern.
“Abuses of the H-1B program present a national security threat by discouraging Americans from pursuing careers in science and technology, risking American leadership in these fields,” the White House said.
The system is also keeping wages of American workers who are forced to compete for roles against foreign candidates arbitrarily low.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s questions.
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