EAM Jaishankar, Marco Rubio to meet today amid H-1B visa fee hike concerns

New York, Sep 22 (IANS) External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York on Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session, officials confirmed.

They said the discussion will serve as a continuation of efforts to strengthen bilateral ties and bridge the differences that have emerged between the two countries in recent months.

This marks the third in-person meeting between Jaishankar and Rubio this year. Their last interaction took place on July 1 during the Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Washington.

Prior to that, Jaishankar had met Rubio in January, just days after the latter assumed office, also on the sidelines of a Quad meeting in Washington.

Monday's dialogue is the first face-to-face engagement between the two leaders since relations between New Delhi and Washington came under strain over trade tariffs and India's purchase of Russian oil.

The tensions escalated after the United States imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, which came into effect on August 27.

The meeting also coincides with a visit by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who is leading a delegation to hold trade negotiations with Washington.

Jaishankar's meeting with his American counterpart is expected to be crucial, particularly in the backdrop of the Trump administration's recent decision to hike the H-1B visa fee.

The proclamation signed by Trump has raised the application fee for H-1B visas to $100,000, triggering chaos across the tech industry and creating uncertainty among employees who rely on the visa program.

However, in an exclusive response to IANS, the White House on Saturday said that it is a "one-time fee" that applies only to new visas and not renewals or current visa holders.

"This is a one-time fee that applies only to the petition. It only applies to new visas, not renewals or current visa holders. It will first apply in the upcoming lottery cycle," a White House official told IANS.

The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also posted on X, saying that those who already "hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will not be charged $100,000 to re-enter. H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country," she wrote.

--IANS

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