Biden had allowed the restrictions imposed by Trump on the grant of non-immigrant US visas to lapse in March 2021.
New Delhi: Even the incoming administration of Donald Trump in Washington DC will have to make a distinction between mobility and immigration, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday, amid speculation that the professionals from India might find it difficult to get visas to work in the United States after the return of the 78-year-old Republican to the White House.
Jaishankar also said that Trump’s return as the US president might lead to “more geopolitical hedging” by all nations around the world.
The external affairs minister noted at an event in Sydney on Thursday that the world would see a much more integrated workforce in the next few years.
“Even a US under Donald Trump will make a distinction in immigration and mobility for them. An economically justified mobility will have to be fostered by those countries, where the economic value is less or negative (and) will have to be managed” he said, addressing the business leaders of Australia.
His comment came a day after Trump, the 45th US president, won the elections to return to the Oval Office in the White House as the 47th.
Trump promised during his campaign for re-election that he would build on the measures taken during his first term in the White House to drastically bring down both legal and illegal migration to the US.
He accused President Joe Biden of allowing “terrorists,” “common street criminals,” and “drug dealers” to enter the US.
New Delhi anticipates that the second Trump Administration, while pursuing its “Make American Great Again” policy, might make it difficult for India’s Information Technology professionals to get non-immigrant work visas to work in the US, just as it had done during his first term from 2017 to 2021 when the H1B visa denial rate had gone up from 6% in 2016 to 24% in 2018 before coming down to 21% in 2019.