Washington/New Delhi: The US extended by a year the USD 1,00,000 fee on employers for bringing in foreign workers on H-1B visas, the White House said, prompting the main opposition party in India, the Congress, on Saturday, September 19, to accuse the Narendra Modi government of bending backwards to appease Donald Trump.
In a presidential proclamation a day ago, Trump said the 2025 decision to impose a USD 1,00,000 fee has led to a 92 per cent decrease in H-1B registrations by large IT outsourcing firms.
“An extension of the 2025 Proclamation will continue to protect the economic and national security interests of the United States, improve labour market access for American workers and graduates, and ensure that employers recruit only the most highly skilled and essential alien workers when needed in line with the original intent of the program,” Trump said.
Reacting to the move, Congress media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said in a post on X, “Trump has extended the $100,000 H-1B visa fee for another 12 months—a move that will hit Indian IT, tech professionals and the student talent pipeline hard.”
“Modi bent over backwards to appease Trump. Trump got the appeasement. India took the humiliation and the hit,” Khera wrote.
The Congress’ reaction comes as New Delhi has warned Washington of “potential implications” for bilateral ties and said it will take all necessary measures to protect its economic interests. The warning follows the passage of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which allows sanctions and tariffs to be imposed on countries trading with Russia and Iran.
While the government hasn’t issued a formal statement on the H-1B issue recently, back in 2025, the Ministry of External Affairs had said that the measure would have humanitarian consequences due to the disruption caused to families.
Decision runs into legal challenge
Indians remain the single largest beneficiary group of the US H-1B visa programme.
The 2025 decision to levy the USD 1,00,000 fee has run into a legal challenge, and the matter is before two different federal courts.
The 2025 order for a fee hike was set to expire this month. It did not apply to visas granted to foreign citizens already in the United States on student visas, who make up a large share of new H-1B recipients, or to renewals of current visas.
The order also sets a 30-day deadline for the Secretary of Labour, acting through the Wage and Hour Division, to begin reviewing data from previously submitted labour condition applications.
The review will determine whether further action against sponsoring employers is warranted.
The President also issued a separate proclamation, tightening the scrutiny of H1-B visa applications through better inter-agency cooperation.
“The Order enhances program integrity in the H-1B visa program by improving interagency coordination and directing enhanced scrutiny of H-1B visa applications where there is a heightened risk that American workers would be laid off,” a fact sheet issued by the White House said.
The Order directs the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Labour, and the Secretary of Homeland Security to consider petitioner employers’ recent or planned layoffs of similarly situated US workers when considering H-1B visa applications.
The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program was created to identify uniquely skilled and highly specialised foreign temporary workers to strategically supplement the United States economy, the US President said in the executive order.
“Instead, the program has been widely abused by certain employers, third-party placement groups, and outsourcing firms to undercut and displace the supply of skilled United States labour,” Trump said.
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