How Indians reacted to Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee move: ‘American dream killed’
New Delhi : Donald Trump administration’s move to impose staggering annual fee of $100,000 on H1B visa petitions has sent shockwaves across the globe, particularly in India that constitutes more than 70 per cent of US’ H1B visa-holders.
The US commerce secretary said the move would ensure US companies hire more American talent while sending less valuable foreign workers back to their home countries. In a presidential proclamation, Trump declared that the new rule would apply from September 21 onwards for a period of 12 months. After the initial period, the rule will expire unless extended.
Amid the latest developments, companies such as Amazon and Microsoft are asking their workers to return and remain in the US for the foreseeable future as the new rule comes to effect from September 21, 2025.
Several Indians took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their concern over Trump administration’s new visa rule. While some said that “panic” amongst the Indian diaspora is real, others said the “American dream has been shattered.”
“Trump just killed the H1B visa,” said one X user, adding that the American dream of Indian techies has been killed.
Another X user wrote that the new visa rule will have implications for the Indian job market as many Indians who are working in the US will return home to a stagnant market. Another user termed the move as “sunset for IT industry” , while another said that there is panic amongst the Indian diaspora who constitute over 70 per cent of H-1B visa-holders in the US.
On Friday, Trump signed a proclamation titled ‘Restriction on entry of certain nonmigrant workers’ which said that while the H-1B visa programme was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to “perform additive, high-skilled functions”, but has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.
Trump alleged “systemic abuse” of the H-1B visa system, particularly by IT outsourcing firms. The US President declared that the misuse of the H-1B program was a “national security threat.”
“Further, the abuse of the H-1B visa program has made it even more challenging for college graduates trying to find IT jobs, allowing employers to hire foreign workers at a significant discount to American workers,” his proclamation reads.
Meanwhile, in India, Congress criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi terming him a “weak PM” after US’ new rule which is going to effect the Indian diaspora heavily. “I repeat, India has a weak PM,” Rahul Gandhi wrote on X, while sharing a news report on H-1B.
An HT analysis shows that the new visa fees of $100,000 announced by Trump is more than the median annual salary of a fresh H-1B visa holder and more than 80 per cent of the average annual salary of all H-1B visa holders.
