New Delhi, Oct. 15 -- Late last month, the Trump administration in the US announced that new applications for the H-1B visa would require a fee of $100,000. This is extraordinary. The H-1B instantly became by far the most expensive employment visa in the world, about 15 times dearer than the next most expensive work visa (the UK's), and 50 times dearer than it was just weeks ago in the US.

The reason for this, according to the White House website, is because the H-1B visa "has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor. The large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the program has undermined both our economic and national security."

To...