India expresses concern about Trump plan to hike fees on H-1B visas that bring tech workers to US

WASHINGTON AP The Indian authorities expressed concern Saturday about President Donald Trump s latest push to upend American immigration approach dramatically raising the fee for visas that bring tech workers from India and other countries to the United States The president on Friday signed a proclamation that will require a annual fee for H- B visas meant for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find hard to fill He also rolled out a million gold card visa for wealthy individuals moves that face near-certain legal challenges amid widespread criticism he is sidestepping Congress If the moves survive legal muster they will deliver staggering price increases The visa fee for skilled workers would jump from India s Ministry of External Affairs explained Saturday that Trump s plan was being studied by all concerned including by Indian industry The ministry warned that this measure is likely to have humanitarian consequences by way of the disruption caused for families Ruling body hopes that these disruptions can be addressed suitably by the U S leadership Critics say the H- B visas undercut American workers H- B visas which require at least a bachelor s degree are meant for high-skilled jobs that tech companies find complex to fill Critics say the scheme undercuts American workers luring people from overseas who are often willing to work for as little as annually That is well below the -plus salaries typically paid to U S machinery workers Trump on Friday insisted that the tech industry would not oppose the move Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disclosed all big companies are on board Representatives for the biggest tech companies including Amazon Apple Google and Meta did not right away respond to messages for comment Microsoft declined to comment Lutnick stated the change will likely outcome in far fewer H- B visas than the annual cap allows because it s just not economic anymore If you re going to train people you re going to train Americans Lutnick revealed on a conference call with reporters If you have a very sophisticated engineer and you want to bring them in then you can pay a year for your H- B visa Trump also publicized he will start selling a gold card visa with a path to U S citizenship for million after vetting For companies it will cost million to sponsor an employee Trump offers Platinum Card The Trump Platinum Card will be available for million and allow foreigners to spend up to days in the U S without being subject to U S taxes on non-U S income Trump revealed a million gold card in February to replace an existing investor visa this is now the platinum card Lutnick mentioned the gold and platinum cards would replace employment-based visas that offer paths to citizenship including for professors scientists artists and athletes Critics of H- Bs visas who say they are used to replace American workers applauded the move U S Tech Workers an advocacy group called it the next best thing to abolishing the visas altogether Doug Rand a senior official at U S Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration announced the proposed fee increase was ludicrously lawless This isn t real strategy it s fan amenity for immigration restrictionists Rand stated Trump gets his headlines and inflicts a jolt of panic and doesn t care whether this survives first contact with the courts Lutnick commented the H- B fees and gold card could be introduced by the president but the platinum card requirements congressional approval Visas doled out by lottery Historically H- B visas have been doled out through lottery This year Amazon was by far the top recipient of H- B visas with more than awarded followed by Tata Consultancy Microsoft Apple and Google Geographically California has the highest number of H- B workers Critics say H- B spots often go to entry-level jobs rather than senior positions with unique skill requirements And while the campaign isn t supposed to undercut U S wages or displace U S workers critics say companies can pay less by classifying jobs at the lowest skill levels even if the specific workers hired have more experience As a development multiple U S companies find it cheaper to contract out help desks services and other basic tasks to consulting companies such as Wipro Infosys HCL Technologies and Tata in India and IBM and Cognizant in the U S These consulting companies hire foreign workers often from India and contract them out to U S employers looking to save money Ron Hira a professor in the political science department at Howard University and a longtime critic of H- B visas reported the plan was a move in the right direction It s a recognition that the venture is abused he stated Raising the visa fee he disclosed was an rare way to address the H- B venture s shortcomings Normally he mentioned reformers seek techniques to raise the pay of the foreign workers eliminating the incentive to use them to replace higher-paid Americans He noted approvingly that Trump s proclamation calls for the U S Labor Department to initiate a rulemaking to revise the prevailing wage levels under the visa operation Critics of H- B visas have also called on the lottery to be replaced by an auction in which companies vie for the right to bring in foreign workers The first lady received an H- B visa in the s First lady Melania Trump the former Melania Knauss was granted an H- B work visa in October to work as a model She was born in Slovenia In lottery bids for the visas plunged nearly which officers disclosed was due to success against people who were gaming the system by submitting multiple sometimes dubious applications to unfairly increase chances of being selected Major instrument companies that use H- B visas sought changes after massive increases in bids left their employees and prospective hires with slimmer chances of winning the random lottery Facing what it acknowledged was likely fraud and abuse USCIS this year stated each employee had only one shot at the lottery whether the person had one job offer or Critics welcomed the change but reported more demands to be done The AFL-CIO wrote last year that while changes to the lottery included specific actions in the right direction it fell short of needed reforms The labor group wants visas awarded to companies that pay the highest wages instead of by random lottery a change that Trump sought during his first term in the White House Ortutay informed from Oakland Calif Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Ft Lauderdale Fla Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this overview Source