The September 19 presidential order imposing a fee of $100,000 per H-1B visa entry stands as one more assault on an edifice that, on the surface, looked rock-solid only a year ago. The order hits India hard, even if that is not its intention, and will deliver shock, pain, and a host of challenges that cannot hide behind empty bravado. The magnitude of the disruption, its potential to derail one of India’s largest employers, the vast IT services sector, and its likely impact on the wider economy give cause for worry.

A 2019 study, the latest available, by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, put the number of H-1B visa holders at 583,420 (total H-1B authorised-to-work population) as of September 30, 2019. Broadly, it has been estimated that the total H-1B population with family and

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