Washington, August 14, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has warned that a proposed $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas could encourage US companies to shift jobs and operations overseas, potentially weakening the country’s ability to attract highly skilled professionals and compete globally.
“You can either onshore the talent or offshore the work,” Krishnamoorthi said during an episode of the “Spill the Tea” interview series.
The Illinois Democrat was discussing barriers to legal immigration, including the $100,000 fee, when the interviewer pointed out that Indian nationals accounted for 71 per cent of H-1B visas issued in fiscal 2024 and asked about the potential impact on Indian Americans and US competitiveness.
Krishnamoorthi said the consequences would extend beyond any single nationality because the US economy depends on attracting highly skilled talent from around the world.
“I mean, it adversely affects both, right? Because, our competitiveness depends on attracting the very best talent on earth. Whether it’s people from India or China or Sweden. It doesn’t matter,” he said.
He described the proposed fee as effectively a tax on professionals working in highly specialised technical fields, arguing that many such workers have gone on to establish companies and create large numbers of jobs in the US.
Krishnamoorthi warned that imposing such a cost could discourage skilled professionals from coming to or remaining in the US while prompting companies to move work to other countries.
“And now, you know, that kind of attitude means that I fear that increasingly companies here are gonna offshore the work,” he said.
He called for reforms to the legal immigration system and urged policymakers to avoid measures that could undermine the US economy.
“We’ve got to fix our legal immigration system and we’ve got to stop, you know, these own goals, so to speak, on H1B and, you know, other legal pathways that people have used to enrich our economy,” he said.
Krishnamoorthi also criticised President Donald Trump over what he described as the normalisation of hostility towards minority communities. Asked about rising anti-Asian and anti-Indian sentiment, he said, “It rhymes with Donald Trump.”
He alleged that Trump had appealed to fears about people perceived as outsiders and blamed them for economic problems, adding that such rhetoric had developed over the past decade into “almost like a normalization of hate.”
The H-1B programme allows US employers to hire foreign professionals for speciality occupations requiring specialised knowledge. Technology and consulting companies have traditionally been among its major users.
Krishnamoorthi has represented Illinois’ 8th Congressional District since 2017. He holds a mechanical engineering degree from Princeton University and a law degree from Harvard Law School.
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