Trump raises H-1B visa fee to $100,000:India-US flight fares skyrocket; White House later clarifies new fees apply only to new visas

After the US President Donald Trump hiked the H-1B visa’s fee to $100,000, the India-US flight fares skyrocketed. A glance at flight fares on travel apps show a minimum price of ₹52,440 for a one-way ticket from New Delhi to New York on Saturday. The Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi said that India’s prime minister was weak. On his social media handle on ‘X’, Gandhi said “I repeat, India has a weak PM.” The US would now charge an application fee of around $100,000 (about ₹88 lakh) for H-1B visas. H-1B visa fee of $100,000 is only one-time and not annual: White House Earlier, media reports showed that the fee would have to be paid annually. But later on, the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, clarified that the fee would be required to be paid only one time. H-1B visa fee only on new visas: White House Leavitt clarified that the new and elevated fees only apply to the new visas that would be issued. Find below White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s ‘X’ post regarding clarifications issued: President Donald Trump signed this order at the White House on Saturday. So far, the application fee for H-1B visas ranged from ₹1lakh to ₹6 lakh. Apart from this, facilities like ‘Trump Gold Card’, ‘Trump Platinum Card’ and ‘Corporate Gold Card’ have also been introduced. Trump Gold Card (worth ₹8.8 crore) will give a person the right to unlimited residency in the US. Follow below mentioned news thread to catch hold of all latest developments of Trump’s visa fee hike order: