E-Paper
Indian techie’s joyful move to San Francisco turns sour as Trump imposes $100,000 H-1B fee: ‘Worst day’
An Indian techie’s US relocation post turned sour as Donald Trump announced a $100,000 H-1B visa fee.
What began as a joyous post by an Indian software engineer celebrating his move to the United States soon turned bittersweet following a new policy announced by President Donald Trump. On September 19, Jatin, a Indian tech professional, shared a picture of himself on X, formerly Twitter, announcing his arrival in California. His caption read: “Life update: Relocated to San Francisco Bay Area!”
(Also read: Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visas sparks worries about ‘Indians in IT sector’)
The excitement did not last long. Just hours later, Jatin returned to the platform with a follow-up note that reflected his disappointment. “Couldn’t have picked a worse day to post this update,” he wrote, hinting at how the timing of his big news had clashed with the White House’s proclamation.
Check out the post here:
Trump’s proclamation on H-1B visas
On Friday, United States President Donald Trump signed a proclamation introducing a massive hike in visa costs. The order requires companies seeking H-1B visas for foreign workers to pay an annual application fee of 100,000 US dollars.
“The Proclamation restricts entry for aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in specialty occupations in the H-1B programme unless their petition is accompanied by a 100,000 dollar payment,” a White House statement explained.
The proclamation outlined strong concerns about the way the visa system has been used by information technology companies. “The H-1B nonimmigrant visa programme was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour,” it said.
It added that “Information technology firms in particular have prominently manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields. The share of IT workers in the H-1B programme grew from 32 percent in Fiscal Year 2003 to an average of over 65 percent in the last five fiscal years.”
A hefty barrier for migrant workers
The proclamation stated: “The entry into the United States of aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in a specialty occupation is restricted… except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of 100,000 dollars.”
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
