The US House Budget Committee, in a tight 17-16 vote on Sunday night, advanced President Donald Trump's sweeping "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," a proposed legislation that could significantly raise the cost of sending money overseas for Indian residents and non-resident Indians (NRIs) living in the United States.
One of the most contentious provisions of the bill is a 5 percent tax on all international money transfers made by non-US citizens. This includes non-immigrant visa holders such as those on H-1B visas, as well as green card holders.
The tax would be withheld at the point of transfer, and notably, the bill sets no exemption threshold — meaning even small transfers would be taxed. However, remittances from “verified US senders,” defined as US citizens or nationals, would be exempt.
If passed, this could place a significant financial burden on nearly 4.5 million Indians residing in the US, including approximately 3.2 million people of Indian origin.
According to a March report by the Reserve Bank of India, out of the $118.7 billion in remittances received by India in 2023–24, about $32 billion — nearly 28 percent — came from the United States.
Applying the proposed tax to that figure, the Indian community could face an annual remittance tax bill of around $1.6 billion.
The tax wouldn’t just apply to personal remittances. It would also affect transfers related to investment income, proceeds from stock options, and other financial transactions commonly used by NRIs to support families or invest in India.
In addition to the remittance tax, the bill proposes allocating $46.5 billion to resume construction of Trump’s US-Mexico border wall and expand immigration enforcement measures.
The legislation also includes funding to hire 3,000 new Border Patrol agents and 5,000 customs officers, along with $2.1 billion earmarked for signing and retention bonuses.
Further, it provides for the addition of 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and investigators.
For the first time in US history, the bill also seeks to impose a $1,000 fee on asylum seekers — placing the United States in line with countries like Australia and Iran that levy similar charges.
Overall, the legislation aims to remove one million immigrants annually and expand detention center capacity to house up to 100,000 people at a time.
The bill had previously been stalled by a group of conservative hardliners on the Budget Committee, who voted to block its progress.
However, Sunday’s narrow approval now pushes the legislation closer to a full House vote, reviving Trump’s aggressive immigration and border security agenda while drawing sharp concern from immigrant communities, particularly the Indian diaspora.
