The Indian diaspora in the US, particularly, were hit with panic, after the Trump administration’s announcement on Thursday revealed that the previous fee of $2,000 to $5,000 for an H-1B visa fee hike impact for foreign workers had been hiked to a whopping $100,000 or nearly ₹88 lakh in Indian currency. The US government later confirmed that the change in the fee was only for new applications, and would not apply to existing visa holders. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained in a statement the reasons for the move, saying that the policy was intended to “discourage reliance on foreign workers”. “The basic idea is this: Big tech companies and other businesses will no longer be able to Indian IT stocks today at a fraction of the cost of American employees. The government would like to hope that the US would address these issues in an appropriate manner,” the Indian statement said.