Fifteen days ago, Ashish Gupta, who worked for the American technological company Qualcomm, was about to book his ticket for a visit to the house to present his American girlfriend to her parents in Delhi.
GUPTA, software engineer, lives in Michigan and works for Qualcomm for six years on an H -1B visa – the permit that technological companies have used to hire specialized workers.
At the last minute, Gupta canceled. “I was nervous, I could not be able to return to America, despite my valid visa, given all the uncertainty created by Trump. I consulted an immigration lawyer and he told me that it was too risky,” said Gupta.
JD Vance will go to Delhi on Monday to meet Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. They are seen here during their last meeting, in Paris in February
Images Leah Millis / Getty
Modi with President Trump
Alam
He is not the only one. Indians represent 70% of all H -1B visas – a little more 200,000 of them were issued to the Indians last year – and anecdotal evidence suggest that many others like Gupta cancel or postpone trips home.
The question of the H-1B visa will probably be on the agenda when Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, welcomes JD Vance, US vice-president in Delhi on Monday.
“I expected him to say that we will play ball on America which will expel illegal Indian immigrants, but in return, Modi can ask that more H-1B visas be issued. At the very least, no restriction,” said Vivek Mishra, deputy director of the strategic affairs program of the Research Foundation Research.
The four -day Vance visit aims to strengthen the links between the two nations by focusing on economic and geopolitical priorities. The tone is likely to be hot. During their last meeting in France in February, Vance described Modi as “graceful and kind” and thanked him warmly for the gifts that the Indian chief offered to his three children.
The public interest in the trip will be high, given the Indian origins of the wife of Vance, USHA. His parents left the southern state of Andhra Pradesh for America in the 1970s. Tens of thousands of engineers and software specialists have left state in the United States over the years and today Telugu ranks like the fastest language in America.
Vance with his wife, Usha, and two of their children
Justin Sullivan / Getty images
Although it is largely a semi-private family trip, the two parties will see the visit as a chance to advance the talks that are underway for a full trade agreement. The objective increases bilateral trade to $ 500 billion by 2030.
Amartya Lahiri, professor of economics at the University of British Columbia in Canada, wrote in the Indian Express that India will have no choice but to accept to reduce its prices on American products. “The warning here is that the simple drop in prices may not be enough to satisfy the United States because it wants a balanced bilateral trade,” he wrote.
However, some observers believe that the first part of the agreement could be finalized over the next three months.
Delhi can also express his concern about the assessment of Chinese products such as China’s result having to find other export markets for products that will go to the United States but which will now face 245%prices.
The latest figures, published on Wednesday, show that India’s trade deficit with China increasing at record levels, affecting almost $ 100 billion. India has set up a monitoring mechanism to check Chinese products in the country.
At the same time, India will reassure Vance that even if the EU could consider rotating towards China – as some reports suggest – Delhi does not intend to team up with the country, an arc rival, resonating at Trump prices.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in India recently said that the two countries should work together to overcome the challenges of Trump’s prices.
However, Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Commerce, rejected the suggestion, saying that India preferred trade relations with developed countries.
“Our effort is to integrate our economy into the developed world, which believe in fair play, which believe in honest commercial practices and where we get an equal opportunity to do business and invest,” he said.
