Headline: ‘Cruel joke’: How Indian H-1B dreams are crash-landing after Trump fee hike
Fee Shock:
The Trump administration has raised the H-1B visa application fee from $2,000 to $100,000, dramatically increasing the cost for companies sponsoring skilled foreign workers. This move is part of a broader push to prioritize domestic hiring.
Impact on Indian Talent:
India, which accounted for over 70% of H-1B recipients in 2024, is hardest hit. Young professionals like Meghna Gupta, who built careers around the promise of U.S. relocation, now face shattered plans and stalled futures.
Indian IT giants once dominated H-1B sponsorships. In 2014, 7 of the top 10 recipients were Indian firms. By mid-2025, only TCS remained in the top 10, with U.S. tech giants like Amazon and Meta taking the lead.
The fee hike raises the minimum employer cost to $160,000 per worker, making it more economical to hire locally. Critics argue this undermines global talent mobility and penalizes emerging economies.
Emotional Toll:
For thousands of Indian professionals, the American dream now feels like a “cruel joke,” with years of planning and sacrifice rendered futile by abrupt policy shifts.
(Source Al Jazeera)
—Agencies
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