Free Republic

Amid US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, the Indian government is currently working on a new scheme focused on bringing back Indian-origin “star faculty” and researchers currently based abroad, according to The Indian Express. The move will not only bring the top scholars back to India, but also offer them positions in top research institutions and thus promote long-term collaboration to improve the country’s science and technology ecosystem.

Walmart paused corporate job offers to candidates that require H-1B visas to work in the U.S., Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the change, as the Trump administration’s planned policy requiring companies to pay $100,000 fees for new applicants requiring the visas begins to impact American businesses.

As Indian citizens face a dramatic downturn in overseas career prospects amid restrictive US immigration policies, students and professionals are closely watching President Donald Trump’s next move. For a nation that contributes the largest number of H-1B visa holders globally, the new policy has left many—especially those nearing graduation—scrambling to reassess their plans and explore alternatives elsewhere. “The announcement landed like a seismic shock,” said Chell Roberts, Dean of the University of San Diego. “It has disrupted the aspirations of students, families, and companies who have long viewed the H-1B as a bridge to opportunity.” -snip- A 26-year-old from Guntur,...

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has signaled that the H-1B visa system will face key reforms before the $100,000 fee applies in 2026. He called the lottery “bizarre,” opposed low-cost hiring, and said visas must go to the most highly-skilled workers. -snip- Lutnick said the H-1B visa lottery system is flawed and needs reform. Referring to conversations with the heads of two leading global tech companies, he said they found the concept of allocating visas for skilled workers through a lottery “bizarre.” He argued that the US must ensure visas go only to the most highly skilled professionals. -snip- The...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued the Trump administration Thursday over hefty new fees in the H-1B visa program, joining the legal campaign against the administration’s changes to a program used by some of the biggest tech companies in the U.S. -snip- The chamber’s lawsuit is seeking to block the new H-1B program restrictions, which were rolled out in a presidential proclamation that the chamber says “is not only misguided policy; it is plainly unlawful.” “The President has significant authority over the entry of noncitizens into the United States, but that authority is bounded by statute and cannot directly contradict...

Vice President JD Vance blasted Big Tech companies for firing American workers and then claiming they need visas for foreign labor Wednesday. The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers for specialty occupations and is overwhelmingly used by the tech industry. However, it has long been controversial for some conservatives, who say it is abused by tech companies to bring in cheap, predominantly Indian, labor to replace American workers. Vance spoke with The All-In podcast hosts on a panel at the "Winning the AI Race" AI Summit in Washington, D.C. The Vice President noted that while some...

Among issues Charlie Kirk took a strong stand against was immigration, even legal immigration stemming from H1B visas that many Indian students and professionals use. “America does not need more visas for people from India. Perhaps no form of legal immigration has so displaced American workers as those from India. Enough already. We’re full. Let’s finally put our own people first,” he said in a post on X on September 1 He was responding to a Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham’s post suggesting that a US-India trade deal might involve more visas for Indian professionals. In a subsequent post on...

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) will introduce a bill on Tuesday that would sharply reduce the number of H-1B migrants working in U.S. white-collar jobs. The bill, to be announced Tuesday morning, would begin to count visa renewals as new visas, so ending the current practice of allowing unlimited renewals for most of the 85,000 visas granted to companies each year. The unlimited renewals policy allows roughly 750,000 H-1B visa holders to retain white-collar, career-track jobs that would otherwise have gone to young U.S. graduates. Without the exemption, the number of company-employed H-1B visa holders would drop to roughly 250,000. The...

Mark Zuckerberg is said to have started work on Koolau Ranch, his sprawling 1,400-acre compound on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, as far back as 2014. It is set to include a shelter, complete with its own energy and food supplies, though the carpenters and electricians working on the site were banned from talking about it by non-disclosure agreements, according to a report by Wired magazine. A six-foot wall blocked the project from view of a nearby road. Asked last year if he was creating a doomsday bunker, the Facebook founder gave a flat "no". The underground space spanning some...

US President Donald Trump's "reckless" proclamation imposing a USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visas is not about protecting American jobs but about "weaponising" immigration policy to advance a "xenophobic agenda", a leading community organisation said. On Friday, the Trump administration announced a one-time USD 1,00,000 fee on H-1B visas. Indian American Impact strongly condemned Trump's reckless order imposing the USD 100,000 fee on H-1B visas and said its "chaotic" rollout sparked panic and chaos, especially for professionals abroad working or visiting family with medical emergencies. The proclamation "is not about protecting American jobs; it is about weaponising immigration policy to...

An Indian man living in the United States has gone viral for his candid take on the new H1B visa rule and how it pushed him to rethink his definition of “home” and “success.” In a video shared on Instagram, the man said, “I actually think this new H1B visa rule is an amazing thing for people like me.” He explained that he decided to move back to India about a year ago and was grappling with doubts about his decision, until the recent change in visa policy gave him “clarity.” “About a year ago, I made the decision to...

President Donald Trump announced plans in September to impose a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications, a move that could pose a challenge to companies, particularly in the technology sector, that rely heavily on highly skilled foreign workers. -snip- "If you're going to train somebody, you're going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs," said Lutnick. Meanwhile, critics of the fee hikes say the move could stifle innovation by restricting the flow of overseas talent to the United States. "If...

Columbia University could face a substantial financial impact if the Trump administration’s proposed $100,000 fee on H-1B visas is implemented, as reported by the Columbia Spectator. The fee, announced in a White House proclamation on September 19, 2025, could cost the University up to $20 million annually, according to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). While current H-1B visa holders and renewals are not affected, new visa petitions filed after September 21 would be subject to the levy, placing additional strain on universities that rely heavily on international talent for research and teaching. New H-1B hires could...

“I have never seen anything like this in 30 years,” says Mrinalini Batra, a higher studies counsellor who has helped dozens of Indian students find their way into America’s most prestigious universities. Batra is referring to a slew of measures enacted by the US President Donald Trump administration in recent months, from time-limiting foreign student visas and hiking H1B visa fees to demanding a 15% cap on international students at US universities. Taken together, the measures seem to mark a concerted effort to restrict the number of foreign students entering America. -snip- “The US is just not an option for...

The notification pinged on smartphones across America on Friday, September 19, night. US President Donald Trump had signed a proclamation that would add a staggering $100,000 fee to H1B visa applications, sending shockwaves through the Indian Diaspora that forms the backbone of America's tech industry. For Priya and her husband Rajesh (names changed on request), the news arrived like a digital earthquake in their quiet suburban home. She, on an H4 dependent visa, watched helplessly as her husband -- an H1B holder with three years remaining on his current visa -- absorbed the implications of what seemed like a career-ending...

The number of Indians securing US student visas has witnessed a dramatic plunge, diving by over 44 per cent in August 2025, according to data released on Monday. This marks the steepest drop among all countries and signals a major shift in global student mobility trends, with China now surpassing India as the leading source of US student visas. The International Trade Commission reported that the US issued a total of 313,138 student visas in August — a critical month for university admissions — which reflects a 19.1 per cent decline compared to the previous year. India, which was the...

Manisha Puppala, an Indian national who recently graduated with a master’s degree in tech management from the Rochester Institute of Technology, planned to apply for an H-1B work visa to remain in the U.S. after her studies. Now that the Trump administration has announced a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications, her future is in doubt. Puppala, who took on $120,000 in loans to study in America and has been working at a Boston firm on a permit that allows foreign students to work temporarily in the U.S., had dreamed of running her own startup. “What do I do now?”...

When Qian Zhang boarded a flight from Shanghai to Boston at age 18, she thought she was heading toward the "best version" of her life. It was 2009, during President Barack Obama's first term, when the U.S. economy was rebounding and opportunities for well-educated workers seemed plentiful. She was bound for Dartmouth College, a top choice for many Chinese students, and later found her way to Harvard Business School. Qian embraced the American dream: the promise of equal opportunity, a country that rewards talent and hard work, and a place where global citizens like her could belong. By her early...

For decades, young Indians were told that success meant heading west. Wealth, global recognition, and a career on the international stage could only be earned by leaving home for the United States. Silicon Valley became the promised land, Wall Street the pinnacle of ambition, and the H1-B visa the golden ticket. Families built dreams around it, students tailored their education for it, and India’s brightest minds set their sights on crossing oceans. But now, that dream faces a harsh reality. President Donald Trump has imposed a staggering $100,000 fee on new H1-B visas, a barrier so steep it threatens to...

There’s been lots of discussion about which tech companies will be the biggest losers from President Donald Trump’s broad assault on H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, including a $100,000 fee for each new visa recipient. But the impact could be felt first by universities, says Jeremy Neufeld, the director of immigration policy at the Institute for Progress, a nonpartisan Washington think tank. That's because the fee won’t apply to companies until next March, when the annual lottery for the roughly 85,000 new commercial H-1B visas awarded each year, takes place. Meanwhile, universities and certain other research and not-for-profit...