Free Republic

“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...

“This is devastating. I can’t express it in words,” said one Indian technology professional in Silicon Valley to HT as news of US President Donald Trump’s H1-B visa fee hike spread on Saturday. “I’ve invested a lot of time here in America. I’m staying positive right now but there are times when it’s hard,” adds another Indian professional on an Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa, who was hoping to secure an H1B sponsorship and stay on in America after completing a master’s degree. A pervasive mood of fear and uncertainty looms large among many in the Indian diaspora, particularly young...

In another challenging development for Indian professionals in America, H-1B visas and green card processing is set to be affected as the US government shut down on Wednesday. The shutdown came after President Donald Trump’s Republicans and the opposition Democrats were unable to agree on a congressional budget bill that would fund the government. Immigration lawyers told HT that the shutdown, which ends funding for non-essential government services, will particularly impact new applicants for H-1B visas and employment-based green cards. This development came after the Trump administration announced a new $100,000 H-1B visa application fee for new applicants. The fee...