ISAS Briefs

The United States (US) Congress has recently passed a legislation hiking visa fees for technology companies hiring highly skilled foreign workers under the H1B visa programme. Firms with more than 50 workers and with more than 50 per cent of those employees from abroad would see the current US$320 fee per visa application jump to US$2,000. The issue of H1B visas is vital to Indian information technology (IT) companies who have offices in the US. This paper looks at how and why certain domestic pressures on the Obama Government on issues of immigration and job creation have led to this legislation. It also looks at the reaction of the Indian Government in the matter and examines if the fee hike is a sign of potential future irritants in bilateral relations.