Tech visa and trade full killer Indian leader to meet Trump 2025
Tech visas and trade full killer Indian leader to meet Trump Photo by Swapna Venu Gopal Ramswamy USA TODAY WASHINGTON In a recent interview, President Donald Trump described Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a friend, someone who sees him as his father. Afterward, Trump’s final praise was the best. Trump said he was an absolute killer. When Modi arrives at the White House on Thursday, he will be among a handful of leaders who will meet with Trump in the first weeks of his second presidency.
The US has been supporting India throughout the administration as it sees the South Asian country as a strategic counterweight to China. Invited by Modi, who will arrive in Washington on Wednesday after meeting Vice President J.D. Vance in Paris at the AI Action Summit, Modi had coffee with Vance and another woman, Oshavance, the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Immigration and H-1B visas
Arab businessmen Helen Musk and Vivek Ramswamy, Trump’s nominees to head the Department of Government Efficiency in December, sparked a political firestorm when they wrote about the need for foreign workers in tech sectors.
Musk, an immigrant from South Africa, wrote on X that there was a persistent shortage of top engineering talent and that it was limiting Silicon Valley.
A swift backlash from Trump’s MAGA world, many of whom oppose immigration, forced Trump to weigh in, saying he believes in H-1B. He has hired some workers under the program for his properties.
Companies use the H-1B visa, which is limited to 65,000 per year, to hire foreign workers for six years in specialized occupations.In 2023, 65 percent of the approved applications were for workers in computer-related occupations by Indian nationals.72% approved in 2023 Trump’s first-term H-1B visa denial rate rose to 24% in 2018 from 6% in 2015 under former President Barack Obama Rates fell to less than 5% under the Biden administration۔
Stephen Yale Lohr, an immigration attorney and retired Cornell Law School professor, said Modi could ask Trump to increase the number of H-1B visas, but only Congress has the power to do so.They should not slow down H-1B processing or issue more requests for additional evidence or rebuttals. Yale Lohr said there is an internal conflict between some of President Trump’s advisers, such as Elon Musk, who favor H-1B visas, and others, such as Steve Bannon, who want to limit H-1B visas.
