India, Aug. 31 -- Washington may keep changing the rules; India must make sure its economic prospects are not held hostage to them

The US Department of Homeland Security has proposed a fresh $103,265 fee - nearly '99 lakh, rounded off to "a crore" - on every H-1B petition subject to the annual cap. This is formal rulemaking, not an overnight proclamation: it follows the collapse of the $100,000 entry fee Donald Trump imposed last September, which a federal court declared an unlawful tax in June and which the First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to revive on July 24 - precisely why Washington is now trying the sturdier route of regulation. Unlike the original order, it would also strike petitions from workers already inside the US - stu...