The decision taken by US President Donald Trump to increase tax on goods imported from India by 50 percent has come into effect from today (27 August). This will have a big impact on the trade relations between India and America and many major exporting industries of India may suffer losses.
Meanwhile, another bad news has come. According to the report of The Economics, the Trump government is going to make a big change in the process of H-1B visa and green card. This will have a special impact on Indian employees and students because about 70% of H-1B visas are held by Indians.
US Commerce Minister Howard Lutnick has called this visa system a fraud and said that now jobs in America will be given first to American citizens. He says that in the current system, most visas are given to those employees whose salary is less than the American average. Therefore, in the new changes, priority will be given to those people whose salary is higher.
H-1B visa will be given on the basis of salary
Currently, there is a limit of 85,000 H1-B visas every year. For this limit, every year a lottery system is used to decide which company’s employee will get the visa. But according to US Commerce Minister Lutnick, this lottery system will have to be abolished and a method of giving visas based on salary will have to be adopted. That is, the employee who earns a higher salary will be given priority in getting the visa. The draft of this change has also been approved by a special department of the US government. Its purpose is that the visa holders coming from abroad should be more capable and earn well.
This would simply mean that foreign workers working in low-paying jobs, such as new graduates or those working in small businesses, could face difficulties. This move was also proposed in 2021, but the Biden administration did not implement it at that time.
Trump government is going to introduce gold card
Apart from this, the Trump administration is preparing to launch a new program called Gold Card. This scheme will give priority to meritorious and high-paid employees. Its purpose is to make the process of getting a green card in America stricter and more effective. However, Vice President JD Vance has said that the green card will not mean that a person will be able to stay in America forever. This is raising many questions about the future of green card holders.
Indian workers and students, who mostly depend on H-1B visas, will be most affected by this change. According to statistics, about 70% of the H-1B visas issued every year are given to Indians. According to the new rules, it will be necessary to provide personal data like biometric information and residential address in the visa application. Along with this, strict scrutiny and more paperwork will make the visa process even more difficult.
