Trump visa vow test for India

New Delhi: President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday called the scrutiny of “abuses” in America’s work-visa system a top priority for his administration, deepening concern in New Delhi about the prospect of a protracted diplomatic tussle over thousands of Indian-held jobs in the US.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday called the scrutiny of “abuses” in America’s work-visa system a top priority for his administration, deepening concern in New Delhi about the prospect of a protracted diplomatic tussle over thousands of Indian-held jobs in the US.

Trump said the creation and return of jobs to the US would be the single biggest agenda of the first 100 days of his administration, in a 2.38-minute video uploaded online on Tuesday morning, his first policy declaration since his November 8 election.

His comments came a day after India’s foreign secretary S. Jaishankar hinted at the uncertainty gnawing at New Delhi’s foreign policy establishment over Trump’s win.

Jaishankar has just returned from the US where he met members of Trump’s transition team, apart from officials in the current administration of President Barack Obama, but did not receive any assurances over India’s key concerns, officials familiar with the meetings suggested to The Telegraph .

“On immigration,” Trump said in his message, “I will direct the Department of Labor to investigate all abuses of visa programmes that undercut the American worker.”

A majority of temporary work visas, known as H1B visas, are issued each year by the US to Indian workers, mostly in the information technology and related sectors. In 2015, 64 per cent of the 85,000 H1B visas allowed in the US were issued to Indians, including 84 per cent of visas issued for technology jobs. These include 65,000 visas for foreign nationals based abroad, and 20,000 visas for foreign students in the US.

The large issuance of H1B visas to foreign nationals – that too from one country, India – has repeatedly been criticised by members of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

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