The BRICS TimesIndia leads the world in overseas citizens, hosting around 35.4 million non-resident Indians (NRIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs), per May 2025 Ministry of External Affairs data.
In a statement that appeared to target US President Donald Trump’s recent H-1B visa policies, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar emphasized the growing significance of a global workforce. He pointed out that many countries cannot meet their labour requirements solely through domestic populations and rely on migrant talent to fill the gaps.
Jaishankar’s remarks come at a time when India faces trade and tariff tensions with the US. Trump’s strict immigration measures, including a new $100,000 H-1B visa fee, have directly impacted Indian professionals, who make up the bulk of these temporary US work visa recipients.
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Trump’s order claims that the H-1B visa system has been “deliberately exploited” to replace American workers with lower-paid foreign employees, predominantly Indians, while presenting a “national security risk.” The President defended the steep fee as a step to prevent what he described as “systemic abuse.”
What Jaishankar Said
Speaking at the event ‘At the Heart of Development: Aid, Trade, and Technology’ organized by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) during the UN General Assembly session, Jaishankar called for a modern, fair, and efficient framework for a global workforce.
“Where that global workforce is to be housed and located may be a matter of political debate. But there’s no getting away. If you look at demand and you look at demographics, demands cannot be met in many countries purely out of national demographics,” he explained.
“This is a reality. You cannot run away from this reality. So how do we create a more acceptable, contemporary, efficient model of a global workforce, which is then located in a distributed, global workplace? I think this is a very big question today that the international economy has to address.”
He added that technology, trade, connectivity, and workplace trends are pushing the world towards rapid changes. “In today’s very turbulent atmosphere, it is important for large countries to enhance self-reliance,” Jaishankar said, highlighting that India is actively focusing on this.
India’s Global Workforce
Annually, around 2.5 million Indians migrate overseas, making India the top source country for emigrants. India also has the largest global diaspora, numbering approximately 35.4 million NRIs and PIOs, according to the Ministry of External Affairs’ May 2025 data.
In the United States, tech companies heavily depend on H-1B and similar visas to recruit engineers, scientists, and software developers, with Indian professionals dominating the program. Indians have received more than 70% of H-1B visas in recent years.
Indian-origin leaders now head major US companies such as Google, Microsoft, and IBM, while Indian doctors represent almost 6% of the US medical workforce.
Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee, alongside existing filing and legal expenses, could make the program unaffordable for applicants and employers, particularly affecting migrants from lower-income backgrounds.
