Trump could discuss H-1B visa fee after trade talks with India: Ex US envoy

US President Donald Trump’s plan to impose a $100,000 fee on Indians seeking a fresh visa can be an issue that comes back to the negotiating table once the trade talks between Washington and New Delhi are concluded, former US Ambassador to New Delhi Tim Roemer told NDTV on Monday, September 22.

Roemer admitted that the measure “causes a hiccup in the relationship” of the two countries. “Hopefully once we get through these trade negotiations, which are going to be maybe promising... then this H-1B visa issue can be revisited,” he said.

He said, allowing H-1B visas to Indians is very much in the interest of the US as well, since the students who get their PhDs and jobs and the visa, become a job multiplier, generating “hundreds, if not thousands of US jobs.”

His remarks came days after Donald Trump’s overhaul of the H-1B visa programme to widen his administration’s crackdown on immigrants. The massive fee on people seeking a fresh US visa is set to affect the Indian technology companies and skilled professionals.

Courts or Congress may intervene

India has already concluded trade deals with the UK, Israel, and Australia, referring to which Roemer suggested that the United States too could reach such an agreement given its wide-ranging interests in trade, technology, chip manufacturing, and clean energy. In that case, the US president might reconsider the H-1B visa issue.

If not, he pointed out two possible outcomes.

“The courts could weigh in. The courts may say that the President has overextended on this H-1B visa. And the second thing is that Congress could weigh in and say, this is our purview. We are the ones that set the number of H-1B visas... We want to take back our power, and we are going to have something to say about US-India relations,” Roemer said, speaking to NDTV.

Trump admin imposes $100,000 fee on H-1B visa

On September 19, the Trump administration said that it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B worker visas. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, “If you’re going to train somebody, you're going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs.”

Trump’s threat to crack down on H-1B visas has now become a major sticking point with the tech industry, which contributed millions of dollars to his presidential campaign.

Doctors may be reprieved from H-1B visa fee

The White House on Monday (local time) said that the doctors could qualify for exemptions from the new $100,000 visa fee for high-skilled H-1B visa applications, Bloomberg reported. The clarification came after some of the biggest medical bodies expressed concerns over the risk to rural America, where there is already a dearth of providers. Data shows that over 76 million Americans live in places where the government has designated a shortage of primary care doctors.

US-visa curbs coincide with tariff tensions

According to a Reuters report, India was the largest beneficiary of the H-1B visas in 2024 and accounted for 71 per cent of approved beneficiaries. The move comes at a time when New Delhi and Washington are working to improve the previously strained ties after Trump raised India's total tariff to 50 per cent, the highest in the world, along with Brazil.

In July, Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on India as compared to the 26 per cent reciprocal tariff announced in April. Soon after, Trump imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on India for its continued purchase of Russian oil.

However, recently, Trump said that the two countries would come to the negotiating table to address the “trade barriers”.