BENGALURU — The American dream was seeded in Arghya soon after he turned 10, during a visit to his uncle’s swanky new home in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata. It was a gift from his daughter, a software developer with an Indian technology multinational in the U.S.
“It was a sprawling house with a large TV, chandeliers, L-shaped sofas, and my cousin could buy her parents all that after working in the U.S. for about five years,” said the now 26-year-old Arghya, who lives with his parents in a rented house in the northern fringes of Kolkata. “My mind was simply blown at what America offers.”
Ever since, it has been his life’s goal to get a high-paying job in the U.S. and buy his parents an equally plush house. A software developer at the same company as his cousin, Arghya, who chose to be identified by his nickname to avoid being identified by his employer, nonetheless sees his chances of making it to the U.S. dimming, as Washington has raised the bar for foreign recruits in the name of protecting American livelihoods.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald trump signed off on a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications, a giant leap from the $1,500 to $4,500 charged earlier. That was followed by a proposal from the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday that preference should be given to applicants with higher wages.
“The world is shifting toward a conservative mindset, and that approach has trickled down to work as well,” said Ravneit Kaur Brar, founder of law firm IMB Immigration Law. “The general sentiment almost everywhere is that, we must preserve our people, our country, our jobs, our trade.
“Although every country needs skilled professionals, the American dream will probably take a back seat for a whole lot of people.”
For years, H-1B visas have offered a path for thousands of aspirational Indians to pursue lucrative careers and a better quality of life, far from shaky infrastructure, toxic air and grueling jobs at home. The visa was widely viewed as a first step to securing permanent residency in the world’s largest economy, but Washington contends that employers “deliberately exploited” the system to replace Americans with less qualified and inexpensive workers.
Indians were the biggest beneficiary of the H-1B scheme, accounting for 73% of the 2.06 million petitions approved in the five years through the year ending September 2024, with homegrown software exporters Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys emerging as the biggest H-1B sponsors. But the surprise premium, which analysts say would wipe out companies’ margins, could dissuade employers from sponsoring those visas in large numbers, dealing a blow to tons of hopefuls.
“I am not sure if I will ever get a chance to work onshore,” said Arghya. “The house will happen, and soon, but I will have to take out a 20-year mortgage. … An all-cash deal is impossible.”
Working professionals aren’t the only people recalibrating their lives in the face of new realities. Students are also debating the benefits of enrolling in expensive American universities amid growing uncertainties over the future of immigrants in the U.S.
American colleges attracted 26% of the 3.1 million Indian students who opted to study abroad between 2020 and 2024, but industry executives said the slump in their popularity is palpable. At education consulting firm Leverage Edu, daily enquiries for U.S. colleges have dropped from about 900 a year ago to less than 100. Candidates are instead weighing their options in Germany, Italy and France.
“A few months ago, I would have said this too shall pass, but an immediate turnaround in interest in U.S. colleges looks unlikely,” said Chief Executive Akshay Chaturvedi. “We will instead focus on other fast-growing markets until the situation stabilizes in the U.S.”
Amid the panic and gloom, the anti-immigration wave in the U.S. has raised hopes of a reversal in the brain drain from India. The South Asian nation has for a long time watched top talent in science and technology leave for greener pastures, disenchanted by low salaries, a dearth of capital for research and generally poor infrastructure. But some people think a change is on the way.
“The challenge was that people were not returning and the cream was leaving,” said Nagaraja Prakasam, partner at impact investment fund Acumen. “India is still a developing country … so the infrastructure and other investments are lagging, and that drove people looking for prosperity to move out.”
The growth of companies in manufacturing, robotics, semiconductors and artificial intelligence will open up new avenues for talented Indians, encouraging them to stay back as clouds gather over the road to the U.S. “But the job market is very competitive in India and more job seekers will definitely put pressure on the system,” Prakasam cautioned.
Mohandas Pai, former board member of Infosys, sees the H-1B backlash as a potential spark for enterprising Indians to start their own businesses.
“Fundraising is a bit harder than the U.S., but money is available … and India’s public markets reward bold entrepreneurs,” Pai said, adding that the possibility of H-1B holders returning to work or build a business in India are nonetheless slim.
Parthiban Veluchamy is among the exceptions. In 2017, after living in the U.S. for nearly 10 years, he quit his job at software exporter Cognizant, which paid $170,000 annually, to return to Karur, a quaint town in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The first few years in the U.S. were exciting, Veluchamy said, as he travelled across the country, marveling at the multilane roads, skyscrapers and pervasiveness of technology in daily life. But the American dream eventually started to fade. He missed his family, and being called “brown” didn’t help either.
Veluchamy now runs Nativespecial Products, which operates a chain of savory food shops in Tamil Nadhu and neighboring Andhra Pradesh, generating about 140 million rupees ($1.6 million) in sales every year.
“It is a matter of priorities,” Veluchamy said. “Every place has its pros and cons, but home is, after all, home.”
Correction: This article has been amended to correct the chart, which initially misstated the number of H-1B visa approvals.
The article appeared in asia.nikkei
