Indian students face uncertainty as U.S. tightens visa and work policies

For decades, Indian students have viewed U.S. universities as gateways to success. But evolving immigration policies under the Trump administration have altered that narrative. A dramatic hike in H1B visa fees and tighter post-study employment rules are now deterring both students and employers. The fallout is immense—students burdened with debt, uncertain job prospects, and delayed opportunities. Drawing from personal experience, this article explores how these changes have made the path to success steeper and prompted many to reconsider studying or working in the United States altogether.

Almost nine months since I returned to India after spending a little over two years studying in the United States, I find myself reflecting on that decision — one I made reluctantly at first, unsure of what lay ahead. Friends and family questioned my choice to leave the world’s largest economy, where journalists thrive and careers often unfold in dollars. Yet, in hindsight, what seemed uncertain then now feels like a decision made at the right time.

When Donald Trump took the oath as President of the United States for the second time, I realized how swiftly campaign rhetoric could transform into policy. Within weeks, the administration began tightening immigration rules and enforcing deportations. The first shock came when a U.S. military aircraft carrying 104 deported Indian immigrants — many of them settled professionals — landed in Punjab on February 5. Two more flights followed, pushing the total past 300. Their sudden return left families disoriented and futures uncertain.

Soon after, attention turned to the H1B visa program and Optional Practical Training (OPT), both lifelines for international students aspiring to work in the U.S. after graduation. The Trump administration’s latest executive order increased the H1B application fee tenfold — from $10,000 to $100,000 — while introducing income-based weighting in the lottery system.

Firstly, the H1B application costs were typically anywhere from $1000 to $5000, not $10,000.

As for "America’s reputation as a global hub for education and innovation" I'm sure America will do just fine. Firstly, American innovation is not dependent on H1Bs. They weren't doing cutting edge science or research or anything like that. The vast vast majority were serving as cheap labor for large corporations. As for education, the rankings of US Universities are not connected to how many foreign students they take.

BTW, we sure do notice a lot of Indians in particular are sore about effectively ending the H1B domestic outsourcing program whereby corporations were allowed to effectively steal jobs and wages from American workers in favor of imported indentured servants (overwhelmingly Indian)....who then massively discriminated against hiring anybody but other Indians once promoted to management roles. It is not America's role to serve as a huge opportunity provider to foreigners. Opportunities must first go to Americans - for the good of the country. Corporations will just have to accept that if they want to do business here.

How come for decades Indian students haven’t viewed the universities in India as gateways to success?

Actually the universities in India are also viewed by Indians as gateways to success - the IITs, the IIMs, the VJTIs etc. all boost the careers and earnings of students who join them. The thing is that while an IIT will take a person from a US poor class background to upper middle class, a higher degree (masters or Phd) from MIT will take you to stratospheric levels.

And the job opportunities and the abilities to startup and fail fast or build big - those opportunities in the USA are incomparable to opportunities elsewhere.

And, when they go back to India will they push for reform so that their own Universities can be viewed as gateways for success?

As I pointed above, their own universities are viewed as gateways for success, but they will now push for job opportunities and startup opportunities that will help them .
President Trump’s move is mid and long-term good for India

I did some reading on this over the weekend.

1. “American innovation is not dependent on H1Bs”
- This isn’t quite true. While American innovation can do well, there is a significant amount provided by H1bs

1.1. https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/09-005_005359f2-2ee8-4d73-b248-af492e44ecb4.pdf? —> this says that changes in H-1B visa availability have a measurable impact on patenting rates, especially in high-tech and patent-intensive sectors.

1.2. https://itif.org/publications/2025/01/13/h1b-visa-workers-contribute-number-issued-patents-united-states/? —> this shows a strong correlation (Pearson 0.89) between the number of H-1B visa holders in a U.S. state and the number of patents issued in that state (2008–2019), and argues for a causal relationship (with lag) after controlling for co-founders.

1.3. https://www.cfr.org/article/international-students-are-critical-us-innovation-why-are-they-risk? —> The Council on Foreign Relations notes that immigrants (some of whom arrive on H-1Bs or via STEM pathways) have founded or co-founded ~44% of U.S. unicorn start-ups (i.e. high-value tech companies)

1.4. https://faculty.som.yale.edu/mushfiqmobarak/the-contribution-of-foreign-doctoral-students-on-innovation-in-the-united-states/? —> these studies find that foreign doctoral students (many of whom transition into postdoc or research roles) significantly boost publication and citation output of university departments: for instance, reducing foreign-student share by 10% is estimated to reduce publications/citations by 5-6%

The H1Bs skilled workers do contribute quite a bit to American innovation even directly (as seen in the points above) as the evidence suggests that U.S. innovation is at least partially dependent (or heavily aided) by H-1B and other high-skilled immigrant entrants.

Rather going by the facts it is that the presence of H-1B (and other immigration of skilled workers) is an important input in America’s innovation ecosystem, not the only input, but far from trivial.

This “ They weren’t doing cutting edge science or research or anything like that. “ was definitely off to me even without looking at the data.

If I look at

2.1. https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/09-005_005359f2-2ee8-4d73-b248-af492e44ecb4.pdf? —> this specifically ties H-1B admission fluctuations to patenting in high-technology sectors. Patents often reflect cutting-edge R&D.

2.2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048733324001264? —> This 2024 article discusses how postdocs in U.S. STEM fields are overwhelmingly temporary residents dependent on employer-based visas, and many of them engage in frontier scientific research.

2.3. https://faculty.som.yale.edu/mushfiqmobarak/the-contribution-of-foreign-doctoral-students-on-innovation-in-the-united-states/? —> this study on foreign doctoral students (in U.S. universities) shows that they provide meaningful contributions to high-quality research (publications, citations) in science & engineering fields

2.4. https://sciencepolicyreview.org/2021/08/impact-international-scientists-engineers-students-us-research-output/? —> reviews of international scientists, scholars, and students show that many foreign-born individuals are engaged in “frontier” research in U.S. science and engineering institutions.

Of course, this is small percentage of the total number of H1Bs. So President Trump is correct to try to limit this to just the best of the best.

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