H-1B Visa: Kharge calls $100K fee hike ‘PM Modi's birthday return gifts’ from Trump — How Opposition reacted?

Calling it Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “birthday return gifts” from US President Donald Trump, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday slammed the Centre and noted that chanting “Modi Modi is not foreign policy”.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi received a phone call from US President Donald Trump, who extended birthday greetings and referred PM Modi as a “friend.”

In a post on X, senior Congress leader Kharge said, “Narendra Modiji, Indians are pained by the return gifts you have received after the birthday call. Birthday Return Gifts from your “Abki Baar, Trump Sarkar” Govt! $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visas, hits Indian tech workers the hardest, 70% of H-1B visa holders are Indians.”

Trump on Friday signed the proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain nonimmigrant workers’ that restricts the entry into the US of those workers whose H1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of USD 100,000.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi called Narendra Modi a “weak PM”. In a post on X, Congress leader wrote, “I repeat, India has a weak PM.”

Meanwhile, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Saturday slammed the Centre and said that the move will affect the “brightest minds” from India. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gogoi said that his “strategic silence and loud optics” have become a liability for the nation.

The fee 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.

Sharing an X post, the Congress MP wrote, “With the recent decision on H1-B visas the American government have hit at the future of the best and brightest minds from India. I still remember the boldness of former PM Manmohan Singh when one IFS lady diplomat was insulted in the US. Now PM Modi's preference for strategic silence and loud optics has become a liability for the national interest of India and her citizens.”

Congress MP Manish Tewari says, “The US is systematically turning on the screws on India. What happened with regard to the H-1B visa is no coincidence at all. If you look at it in context, the premature ceasefire announcement by the US at the instigation of Pakistan, subsequently, the felicitation and the fetting of the Pakistani Army chief in the White House, followed by the 50% tariffs which have been imposed by the US and even the Saud-Pakistani defence partnership won't have happened without the tacit support and blessing of the US. So, in a very systematic manner, for reasons which are inexplicable and ununderstandable, the US is deliberately being belligerent towards India and it does not augur well for India-US relations.”

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

“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.

Trump's move is likely to affect Indians looking for jobs in the technology and IT sectors in the US.

AAP leader and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia called it humiliating to Indians that they have been subjected to such increasing visa 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 H-1B nonimmigrant visa programme was created to bring temporary workers into the US to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour,” Trump said in the proclamation.

Congress has set a mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B visas, with 20,000 additional H-1B visas for professionals who have obtained a master's degree or higher from an accredited US institution.

An IT industry expert who did not wish to be named said that the fresh approvals for Indian tech companies range from 8,000 to 12,000 every year. The impact is not just on Indian companies but also on global tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, who account for significant H-1B numbers to get "the best talent" to the US. The fee of USD 100,000 is way too high, the source said, as reported by PTI.

Meanwhile, Pai pointed out that the impact will be "limited" for now, as it only affects new applications, and existing H-1B visas are “safe”, PTI reported.

A look at the USCIS website shows that for fiscal year 2025 (data as of June 30, 2025), Amazon topped the list of H-1B visa approvals at 10,044.

In that list of top ten beneficiaries, TCS (5,505) is at the second spot, followed by Microsoft Corp (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Cognizant (2,493), JP Morgan Chase (2,440), Walmart (2,390) and Deloitte Consulting (2,353). The top 20 list includes Infosys (2,004), LTIMindtree (1,807), and HCL America (1,728).

(With inputs from agencies)