"What greater gift for Modi?": AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj's jibe after US introduces USD 100,000 fee for H-1B visas

After the United States imposed a USD 100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA and party's Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, saying that US president Donald Trump has given a "gift" to India by sending people back to the country and allowing them to witness tenure of the "vishwaguru".

Bharadwaj posted a clip of President Trump signing the presidential proclamation titled "Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers".

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"Those people who were working in America, earning dollars, and saying that India has now become the world leader. Now Trump is sending all those people back to India so that they can enjoy the tenure of the vishwaguru while staying in India. What greater gift could there be for their friend Modi than this, all the dear ones returning home," Bharadwaj posted on X in Hindi.

AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, called it humiliating to Indians that they have been subjected to such increasing visas costs, calling for PM Modi to speak on the issue.

"Indians have never faced such humiliation and indifference before. On his birthday, as soon as a call comes from Trump, the Prime Minister gets thrilled and tweets about it, telling the country how delighted he felt... But after this major blow from Trump on Indian professionals, how does he feel now--that too the country wants to know through the Prime Minister's tweets," Sisodia posted on X.

The US president on Friday (local time) issued a new presidential proclamation titled "Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers" that introduces a major overhaul to the H-1B visa programme, imposing a steep USD 100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications, raising fresh questions about whether this is a much-needed correction or a potentially crippling blow to America's tech talent pipeline.

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The fees is set to take effect on September 21, the proclamation represents one of the Trump administration's most aggressive efforts yet to overhaul the H-1B visa programme. Framed as a crackdown on "systemic abuse", it places strict financial and compliance burdens on companies seeking to hire skilled foreign workers, especially in the technology and IT sectors.

He further highlighted that before, people used to pay Rs 1 to Rs 6 lakh for the visas, but now the fees has increased to Rs 88 lakh for Indians.

"The United States has increased the H-1B visa fee for Indian professionals to 88 lakh rupees. Previously, this fee used to be between 1 to 6 lakh rupees, but suddenly it has been hiked so much. Those Indian professionals whom America and European countries once welcomed with open arms and red carpets are now being virtually shut out by imposing a whopping 88 lakh rupees fee on the very same people," Sisodia mentioned.

As of FY 2024, over 71 per cent of all H-1B visa holders were born in India, with 283,397 people getting approved under the H-1B programme, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). People whose country of origin is China are the second most beneficiaries of the H-1B scheme, with 12 per cent of all beneficiaries.

In 2023, the USCIS received a record number of applications across all visa application categories, with over 10.97 million applications received in total, up by 21 per cent (9 million applications) in FY 2022. The USCIS completed over 10.8 million applications. Out of the total number of applications, the US approved 396,500 applications for H-1B petitions across all countries. H-1B applications comprise the largest share of non-immigrant worker petitions in US.

According to the US agency's Employer Data hub, H-1B visa holders mostly work in the IT sector, with Amazon having the largest number of beneficiaries with 10,044 people. Tata consultancy services, Microsoft, and Meta also have more than 5 thousand H-1B visa holders as employees.