Trump says U.S. will defend India if anyone attacks as Modi raises seafarers safety issue

Why was Trump’s H-1B fee struck down?

Subscribed with another email? Sorokin struck down President Donald Trump’s policy imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B work visa visas for highly skilled foreign workers. The H-1B visa, created by the Immigration Act of 1990, is the backbone of the United States’ high-skilled immigration architecture. Notably, H-1B workers can generally remain in the U.S. for up to six years and often use the visa as a pathway to permanent residency. To balance employers’ demand for skilled talent with protection of the domestic workforce, Congress capped H-1B approvals for most private employers at 65,000 visas annually, with an additional 20,000 visas reserved for holders of advanced degrees. Trump signed Proclamation 10973, requiring a $100,000 supplemental payment for all H-1B visa petitions — a substantial increase over the pre-existing filing costs of roughly $960 to $7,595. The proclamation reasoned that the H-1B programme had been “deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers” with lower-paid foreign labour, harming U.S. economic and national security interests, particularly in critical STEM sectors. Indians account for roughly 70% of H-1B visa approvals, followed by Chinese nationals at about 12%, and are heavily represented in the STEM professions targeted by the proclamation. By raising the cost of an H-1B petition, the policy effectively created a prohibitive barrier for thousands of Indian software engineers, doctors, researchers, and other skilled professionals, many of whom already face years-long green card backlogs. Kartikey Singh, lawyer, and currently working as a Law Clerk-cum-Research Associate at the Supreme Court of India.