on Sunday raised India’s concerns over the Trump administration’s revised visa and immigration policies during talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, stressing that legal mobility should not be negatively affected by the new measures, PTI reported.
Rubio acknowledged that the transition could involve “some bumps” and “friction points” as the US works to reform its immigration system, but said an ultimately more efficient framework would benefit all stakeholders.
Ahead of Rubio’s arrival in India, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a directive requiring foreigners seeking a green card or permanent residency to return to their native countries to apply. The agency later moderated its stance, but the overall move is still likely to significantly impact a large segment of Indian professionals, PTI reported.
Here’s what EAM said
Jaishankar and Rubio addressed a press conference after the two leaders held wide-ranging talks that focused on resetting the ties that came under severe strain in the last one year largely due to Washington’s policies on trade and tariff.
“People-to-people ties are at the heart of the (India-US) relationship. I apprised Secretary Rubio of challenges that legitimate travellers face in respect to visa issuance,” the external affairs minister said.
“While we cooperate to deal with illegal and irregular mobility, our expectation is that legal mobility would not be adversely impacted as a consequence. After all, this is very relevant to our business, technology and research cooperation,” he said.
The US policy on H-1B visas has affected a significant number of Indians. Concerns have also emerged over the new American green card rules, which require applicants to submit their applications from their home countries.
What did Rubio say?
Rubio, responding to a question on alleged cases of Indians facing racism in the US, appeared to reject the charges.
“I will take that very seriously about the comments. I’m sure that there are people who have made comments online and in other places because every country in the world has stupid people. I am sure there are stupid people here; there are stupid people in the United States who make dumb comments all the time,” he said.
The added: “Our nation has been enriched by people who have come to our country from all over the world, become Americans, assimilated into our way of life and contributed greatly.”
To a question on changes in the norms for green card, Rubio said it is part of the overall approach to reforming the existing system.
“We’ve had a migration crisis in the United States. This is not because of India, but broadly, we have had over 20 million people illegally enter the United States over the last few years, and we have had to address that challenge,” he said.
“The US is the most welcoming country in the world on immigration,” he said.
The Secretary of State said the current process to reform the existing system is not targeted at India at all.
“Anytime you undertake a reform, any time you undertake a change in the system by which you admit people, there’s going to be a period of transition that’s going to create some friction points and some difficulties,” he said.
“It is not a system that is targeted at India; it is one that’s being applied globally. But we’re in a period of transition, and like any period of transition, there’s going to be some bumps on that road.”
“We think ultimately our destination is going to be a better system, a more efficient system, one that works better than the one that we had in place previously and more sustainable by the way,” he said.
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To a separate question, Jaishankar said while the United States has been very forthright in putting forward its foreign policy outlook as “America first”, India has an “India first” approach.
“So both of us are obviously driven by our respective national interests,” he said.
Marco Rubio’s visit to India takes place just over five weeks after Vikram Misri completed a three-day trip to Washington, DC, aimed at easing tensions and reinforcing bilateral relations following a period of uncertainty.
Ties between the two nations had deteriorated significantly after Washington introduced steep tariffs on India, while Donald Trump sparked controversy by claiming he had helped defuse the in May.
Over the next few months, the US president repeatedly and publicly claimed that he had resolved the military conflict between the two neighbours and saved millions of lives as it was going in the direction of a full-scale war.
stoutly maintained that the cessation of the hostilities was a result of talks between India and Pakistan and the US involvement had nothing to do with it.
Washington’s new immigration policy and its decision to increase the H1B visa fee also contributed to the slide in India-US ties.
However, both sides made efforts in the last few months to repair the ties.
The two sides have resolved to firm up a mutually beneficial trade deal soon.
(With inputs from agencies)
