US President Donald Trump has decided to charge a fee of $ 100,000 (₹ 88 lakh) on the H-1B visa. Its purpose is to attract high skilled employees. The move will affect 71% H-1B visa holder Indian professional.
H-1B visa impact on indians: US President Donald Trump has decided to charge a fee of $ 1,00,000 (Rs 88 lakh) on H-1B visa applicants to tighten the immigration. This step can prove to be a major setback for the technology sector, which is very much dependent on skilled workers of India and China. According to Trump, the purpose of this step is to insure that people being brought into the country are more skilled and do not replace American workers. Let us know what the change in American H-1B visa will affect India.
Why did Trump change the H-1B visa?
Trump’s team believes that these visa programs have been converted into a pipeline for foreign workers, often ready to work on only $ 66,000 annually. This is much lower than a salary of over $ 100,000 given to American tech workers. Trump said, I think the tech industry will not oppose our move. However, so far large technical companies including Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Meta have not given any reaction to it.
What will be the effect on Indians due to increase in H-1B visa fees?
So far, Indian professionals have around 71% of H-1B visa holders. At the same time, China is second in this case with 11.7 percent. In the first half of 2025, Amazon and its cloud-committing unit, AWS allegedly approved more than 12000 H-1B visas, while Microsoft and Meta platforms were approved by more than 5000 H-1B visas. However, the problem of Indians trying to get American visas after Trump’s new changes is going to increase. However, Indians can apply for a green card if they want, but it usually takes a long time. During this time, they will have to renew their visas from time to time, for which every time you will have to pay a fee of more than Rs 88 lakh. According to US Commerce Secretary Lutynik, 2,81,000 people came every year under the Employment Based Green Card Program and earned an average of $ 66,000 per year. We were recruiting people with less income than the average American, which was completely identity. The only country in the world, which was recruiting people with the lowest income. We are going to stop doing so.
What is Trump’s ‘Gold Card’ visa program?
Trump on Friday issued an executive order for the ‘Gold Card’ visa program, with a fee of $ 1 million for individuals and $ 2 million for business. “We think it will be very successful. This will raise billions of dollars, which will reduce taxes on people, repay the loan and many good works will be done.” US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik said that under the ‘Gold Card’ scheme, the US would only allow the “top level extraordinary people” to come to the US, which can generate business and employment for Americans.
What is H-1B visa?
The H-1B visa is a temporary American work visa that allows companies to appoint foreign professionals with specialized skills. It was designed in 1990 for those who have graduate or higher degrees in areas where jobs are considered difficult to get. Especially in science, technology and engineering sector. Initially this visa is given for three years, but it can be extended to a maximum of six years. Renewable of people who have got a green card (permanent residence) can be renewable indefinitely.