H-1B scrutiny should not hurt US innovation, says Indian diaspora group

FIIDS backed tighter oversight of the visa programme but said highly specialised jobs cannot always be filled immediately from the domestic labour pool

The Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) has welcomed tighter scrutiny of H-1B visa applications, but cautioned that it should not come at the cost of American innovation, as jobs requiring highly specialised skills cannot always be filled immediately from the available domestic labour pool.

The statement from FIIDS, an advocacy group, came hours after US President Donald Trump tightened oversight of the H-1B visa programme, contending that it had been widely misused by certain employers, including IT outsourcing firms.

"FIIDS appreciates and understands the Administration's intent to protect America's national and economic interests, safeguard American workers, and address abuse of the H-1B program. Those are legitimate objectives," Khanderao Kand, Chief of Policy and Strategy at FIIDS, said in a statement on Friday.

 

He said the ability of the US to attract exceptional talent has made it the world's leading innovation economy.

"In fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, and specialised data engineering, employers can face real and highly specific skills gaps that cannot always be filled immediately from the available domestic labour pool," Kand said.

He said the US will be the strongest when it protects workers from exploitation and discrimination, rewards employers that comply with the law, invests seriously in American talent, and remains capable of attracting the people whose ideas, enterprises, and expertise create the next generation of American jobs.

"The answer is not to pit American workers against high-skilled immigrants. The answer is a transparent, enforceable, merit-based system: rigorous anti-fraud enforcement; meaningful consequences for bad actors; strong wage and recruitment safeguards; substantial investment in domestic education, training, and reskilling; and a lawful, predictable avenue for employers to hire global talent when a documented specialized need remains," Kand said.

He said FIIDS urged an evidence-based and administrable implementation focused on demonstrable misconduct rather than broad assumptions based solely on a company's total head count or visa usage.

Trump has extended by a year the requirement for a $100,000 payment for certain H-1B visa petitions, the White House said.

In a presidential proclamation issued on Friday, Trump said the 2025 measure imposing the $100,000 payment had led to a 92 per cent decrease in H-1B registrations by large IT outsourcing firms.

Indians remain the largest group of beneficiaries of the US H-1B visa programme.

Trump issued a separate order to tighten scrutiny of H-1B visa applications by directing US agencies to consider recent or planned layoffs of similarly situated American workers when reviewing applications.

The White House said the measure aims to improve programme integrity and prevent employers from using the H-1B programme to undercut or displace US workers.