India on Sunday expressed its concerns over the Trump administration’s recent changes in visa and immigration policies with visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who acknowledged that there will be “some bumps in the road.” [the] way” as Washington puts in place a reformed and modernized immigration system.
Ahead of Rubio’s arrival in India on Saturday, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced changes to its rules that make it necessary for foreigners in the US who want a green card to leave and apply in their home country. Although the immigration agency later softened its stance, the move is expected to impact a large number of Indian professionals.
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said in a joint press conference with Rubio that he informed the US Secretary of State “of the challenges faced by legitimate travelers with regard to issuing visas,” especially since people-to-people relations are at the heart of India-US relations. He added: “While we cooperate to deal with illegal and irregular mobility, we expect that legal mobility will not be negatively affected. Ultimately, this is very important for our cooperation in business, technology and research.”
He was speaking after talks with Rubio aimed at resetting bilateral relations after months of unprecedented tensions over the Trump administration’s trade and tariff policies. Changes in US visa and immigration policies have also emerged as a source of irritation in bilateral relations. Indian workers make up 71% of all approved H-1B visa applications, and many are stuck in a decades-old backlog for the EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based green card categories.
Rubio acknowledged that changes in US policy “may have a disproportionate impact” on India, which provides many highly skilled workers, and said the system itself “does not target India.”
“Modernizing our US immigration system is not India-specific, it is global,” he said. “We have faced an immigration crisis in the United States. This is not because of India, but on a large scale, with more than 20 million people illegally entering the United States over the past few years, and we had to address this challenge.”
Rubio emphasized that the United States remains “the most immigration-welcoming country in the world” but is making a “long overdue” adjustment to its immigration policies to bring them in line with “the realities of the modern era.”
He added: “But we are in a transitional period, and like any transitional period, there will be some obstacles on this road, but we believe that our ultimate destination will be a better system, a more efficient system, a system that works better than the system we had.”
Rubio said the new system may be more beneficial than the previous system “for people from India seeking to enter the United States to work and innovate,” and there will be “a period of adjustment along the way.”
Rubio responded to a question about racist comments made by the United States against India and American Indians by saying: “I’m sure there are people who have made comments online and other places, because every country in the world has stupid people.
“I’m sure if there are stupid people here, there are stupid people in the United States who make stupid comments all the time. I don’t know what to tell you other than that the United States is a very welcoming country. Our nation has been enriched by people who come to our country from all over the world, become Americans, integrate into our way of life and contribute greatly.”
