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Since US President Donald Trump slapped a $100,000 exertion interest connected H-1B enactment visas astatine the weekend, Dinesh, an Indian MBA pupil successful New York, has been consumed by stress.
The fee, which could deter the immense bulk of firm sponsors of the visa, threw into question his way to imperishable US residency and attainment of the American dream, said Dinesh, who asked to beryllium identified by a nickname retired of fearfulness of offending the Trump administration.
“I’m presently successful a hard situation,” helium said. “I request to stitchery my thoughts.”
US authorities accidental conscionable implicit 70 per cent of H-1B skilled idiosyncratic visas are held by Indians, and galore holders and would-be applicants are panicking implicit what they spot arsenic the possible closure of a well-trodden aspirational way taken by thousands each year.
The H-1B visa, which is allocated done a lottery, has agelong been 1 of the astir coveted avenues for Indian graduates and professionals seeking to physique careers successful America. Fwd.us, an migration betterment lobby group, estimates that determination are astir 730,000 H-1B visa holders successful the US on with 550,000 dependants.
The visa has offered a accidental to unafraid high-paying jobs to warrant the sky-high tuition fees of US universities, portion besides promising a amended prime of beingness distant from India’s polluted, congested cities and its punishing firm civilization of agelong hours and derisory pay.
The US presently charges $215 to registry for the H-1B visa lottery and an further $780 for employers that sponsor visa applicants and the abrupt escalation successful costs Trump’s announced connected Friday came arsenic a daze to companies and workers.
“This is going to clang the fig of overseas students applying to the US,” said a recruiter astatine a West Coast exertion company. “They’re going to beryllium saddled with astronomical pupil loans and nary mode to enactment successful the US.”
The White House clarified implicit the play that the caller charges would lone use to applications entering the lottery successful February, and not to existing visa holders. Even so, immoderate Indian workers overseas rushed to instrumentality to the US, portion others cancelled question plans, disquieted astir being caught out.
Atul Gupta, a Bengaluru-based spouse astatine Indian instrumentality steadfast Trilegal, said that portion students could inactive enactment connected successful the US for a mates of years aft graduation nether post-study visas, the higher H-1B costs would harm longer-term vocation prospects.
“The wide governmental situation successful the US is already resulting successful different countries similar the UK becoming much charismatic — and much importantly welcoming — destinations for higher studies,” helium said.
Namita Mehta, president of planetary acquisition consulting institution The Red Pen, said Indian families were already progressively looking to Europe and Asia for higher education, citing rising concerns implicit US weapon unit and hostility towards immigrants.
“It is simply a charged-up concern that we’re seeing successful the US,” she said. “We had a mates of students who were admitted to truly bully colleges successful the US, successful the apical 10, and [they] opted to spell to Singapore instead.”
The H-1B programme has produced immoderate of America’s astir salient firm leaders, including Sundar Pichai astatine Google proprietor Alphabet and Satya Nadella astatine Microsoft. Elon Musk, Tesla’s main enforcement and a erstwhile H-1B holder, has argued that US tech dominance rests connected the quality to pull planetary endowment done specified schemes.
English (US) ·