US visa laws: State Dept offers big clarification amid worries raised by Indians, ‘There are no…’
US visa regulations are not specifically aimed at India and are being enforced uniformly across various nations, according to a senior official from the US State Department. This statement was made in response to the worries expressed by Indians residing in the US regarding H-1B visas and immigration policies.
During a roundtable discussion hosted by the New York Foreign Press Centre, Andrew Pigott stated that the US is executing global visa regulations with transparent and consistent criteria.
In reply to an inquiry from PTI, Pigott noted that earlier US administrations had enforced visa laws in an inconsistent manner. “That is no longer the case. We are consistently applying visa law across the board. I think that will offer clarity. There are no visa laws that target India.”
“These are global visa laws that are being implemented with clarity, clear instructions that are being applied across the board,” he added.
Also Read: H-1B woes: Visa holder gets no response after applying for over 1500 jobs; ‘Just go back’
Balance between immigration and jobs for Americans
Pigott further mentioned that the US, similar to other nations, aims to ensure that job opportunities created within its territory primarily benefit its citizens, while still promoting investment and economic development.
He highlighted that if a job is to be created in the US, they want to ensure that Americans have access to those opportunities, adding that “every country has a similar mentality.”
Speaking about the movement of people, Pigott said, “We’re going to facilitate and allow ways that people need to come in to facilitate investment, to train workers, and make sure that visa policies are in place to allow that to happen,”
He emphasized that the US aims to strike a balance between providing job access for Americans and the necessity for workers who contribute to economic activity and investment.
More than 2 lakhs applicants have paid $100,000 for H-1B visas
Over two lakh applicants chose to pay $100,000 for their H-1B visas to work in the United States during the fiscal year 2026, stated Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in Washington.
While testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on June 2, 2026, Mullin said that the DHS had received approximately 286,000 H-1B applications in the fiscal year 2026.
“We had 286,000 applicants a year to date for the H-1B visas, out of those, over 200,000 of them paid USD 100,000 to be able to come in because it allows us to process them in a little bit faster of a manner,” Mullin stated in reply to a query from US Senator Susan Collins regarding the lack of doctors in rural areas of the nation.
Moving further, the DHS Secretary said that applicants who pay $100,000 have their documents processed in approximately 15 days, whereas it takes around 7.5 months to process other types of applications.