India to urge US to ease H-1B visa curbs during trade talks: Report

Indian officials will urge US trade negotiators this week to ease restrictions on skilled worker visas, Bloomberg has reported, quoting a person familiar with the matter. The push comes just days after US President Donald Trump announced a sudden restriction on H-1B visas.

Led by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, the Indian delegation plans to raise concerns over the movement of skilled professionals, particularly IT workers, during trade discussions in Washington, Bloomberg reported, citing an unnamed source due to the private nature of the talks.

India seeks immigration relief

Until now, trade negotiations have largely focused on improving access for goods. However, Trump’s latest immigration curbs have prompted India to broaden the agenda to include services, such as IT.

India’s economy is heavily dependent on services, a crucial sector which makes up more than 50 per cent of the country’s GDP.

The Trump administration’s decision to impose a USD 100,000 fee on new H-1B applications is expected to disproportionately impacts, who receive around two-thirds of these visas. The move threatens India’s USD 280-billion IT services industry and puts thousands of jobs at risk.

Also Read: India, US still in dialogue on bilateral trade deal, says Piyush Goyal amid Trump tariff row

Talks move beyond goods

This immigration crackdown adds to earlier trade tensions, including a 50 per cent tariff on Indian exports, half of which were introduced to penalise New Delhi for purchasing oil from Russia.

Indian officials have reiterated that the country will continue importing Russian energy as long as it remains economically viable.

Goyal’s visit to the US aims to break the current deadlock and finalise a bilateral trade agreement by the fall of this year, as originally intended. The initial plan was to have a trade deal negotiated in tranches — starting with goods and leaving services for later stages.

Also Read: Piyush Goyal to lead delegation to US for trade talks on Sept 22

Services power Indian economy

India has made similar demands regarding labour mobility of its workers in other trade negotiations, often leading to difficult talks. For instance, discussions around a free trade agreement with the UK stalled in 2022 due to New Delhi’s request for more visas and relaxed rules for Indians seeking to work in Britain.

The two nations eventually signed a trade pact this year, which includes provisions for up to 1,800 visas for some services up to a year of contractual services. India is also pursuing easier mobility provisions for its workers in the ongoing trade talks with the European Union.

Skilled worker mobility is key to India’s booming services exports, which rose over 12 per cent year-on-year to USD 383.5 billion in FY 2024-25. Services now account for nearly half of India’s total trade in goods and services, according to a Bloomberg report, citing official data.

Also Read: India-US trade talks: Both sides call 'in-person' meeting in Delhi 'positive'

Immigration policy, tariff strain ties

However, the outlook for a US-India trade deal remains uncertain amid stricter US immigration policies and Trump’s repeated calls for India to stop buying oil from Russia.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with Good Morning America, acknowledged India as a key partner but said that Trump imposed additional tariffs to penalise New Delhi for its continued imports of Russian oil, a part of Washington’s broader strategy to isolate Moscow.

“We met with them again yesterday, and it was focused on their Russian oil purchases,” Rubio said. Talks between the two nations resumed last week following a phone call from Trump to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday. Trade negotiators last week described the one-day discussions as “positive.”

On Monday (September 22), Rubio also met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, reaffirming that the relationship between the two countries remains “critically important.”