FROM FOX BUSINESS: 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.
“They want to increase trade with India. They want to improve relations,” Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said, according to local media outlets.
“They are also a little afraid of our talent,” Goyal. Allegedly said. “We have no objection to that either.”
The White House says they are not concerned that the change will drive foreign skilled workers to other countries. It says some companies were “abusing” the program.
“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.”
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