The H-1B visa programme serves US interests—and India's as well

America's brouhaha over Indian techies is misguided. Skilled worker immigration is vital to the US tech industry's success

- SANJOY CHAKRAVORTY

Donald Trump's narrow victory in the US presidential election was built on a blatant anti-immigrant agenda. The main targets of the vitriol were Latin American immigrants from Mexico and countries further south. The secondary targets were immigrants from other Global South countries, those Trump had branded as "shithole" nations in his first term while lamenting a lack of "Norwegian" immigrants. This is part of a larger 'White nationalist' agenda that includes efforts to rewrite the history and effects of slavery and roll back policies in favour of diversity, equity and inclusion. The incoming administration is making noises about withdrawing the automatic citizenship right of anyone born in America and is engaged in a high-decibel argument about what to do about the immigration of skilled workers.

In this crossfire, Indian immigrants are by far the most affected group. The instrument used to bring skilled workers into the US is the H-1B Visa, which allows highly educated foreign professionals to work in fields such as science, mathematics, engineering, technology and medicine. The primary beneficiaries of this visa policy are Indians. In the early to mid-2000s, Indians comprised roughly half of all H-1B visa recipients. In 2023, they made up about 72% of the nearly 400,000 H-1B visa holders. About two-thirds of all H-1B visas are for computer-related professions. It has mockingly been called the "outsourcing visa." Hundreds of thousands of one-time H-1B visa holders from India have gone on to acquire US permanent residency and citizenship.

In a 2016 book,