Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], September 20 (ANI): Telangana Jagruthi chief K Kavitha on Saturday criticised the United States increasing the H1B visa fees to USD 100 thousand, extending solidarity with any affected workers and highlighting how such a move will 'impact international relations'.

Highlighting the contributions of Telugu people in technological fields in US, Kavitha told ANI, 'Telugu people have made contributions to the US in developing the country and making it a technologically sound country. Telugu software engineers and Telugu businessmen have made great contributions. Unfortunately, we have seen several knee-jerk reactions of Trump in the past 2-4 months.'

She highlighted how people with a 'scientific temperament' go to US, she expressed solidarity to the affected workers, telling them to have faith.

'Such decisions will impact international relations. India sends its talented people with a scientific temperament...To the Telugu people I would like to say is to have faith. Something or the other will come up. We stand with you,' she added.

Earlier, US president Donald Trump's residential proclamation titled 'Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers' imposed a USD 100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications. The measure, effective from September 21, aims to combat what the administration calls widespread abuse of the H-1B programme, particularly by IT outsourcing firms accused of displacing American workers and suppressing wages.

As of FY 2024, over 71 per cent of all H1B visa holders were born in India, with 283,397 people getting approved under the H1B programme, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). People whose country of origin is China are the second most beneficiaries of the H1B scheme, with 12 per cent of all beneficiaries.

In 2023, the USCIS received a record number of applications across all visa application categories, with over 10.97 million applications received in total, up by 21 per cent (9 million applications) in FY 2022. The USCIS completed over 10.8 million applications. Out of the total number of applications, the US approved 396,500 applications for H1B petitions across all countries. H1B applications comprise the largest share of non-immigrant worker petitions in US.

According to the US agency's Employer Data hub, H1B visa holders mostly work in the IT sector, with Amazon having the largest number of beneficiaries with 10,044 people. Tata consultancy services, Microsoft, and Meta also have more than 5 thousand H1B visa holders as employees. (ANI)