New $100k H1B visa price may threaten Indian college students American dream

Following the U.S. authorities’s determination to impose a one-time $1,00,000 price on new H-1B visa purposes, information means that overseas college students pursuing their levels within the U.S. — significantly Indians, who type the most important group of worldwide college students — will likely be considerably affected.

Associated Press quoted U.S. scholar visa holders who’re making an attempt to safe an H-1B, saying they’re now reconsidering settling within the nation. Not simply college students already within the U.S., but additionally many in India who aspire to enrol in American universities and work there instructed AP and Reuters that it appears like “a door [is] closing.”

Most specialists imagine the brand new rule will apply to overseas college students within the U.S. Some immigration attorneys, nevertheless, warning that important gray areas stay. While the finer particulars are nonetheless being labored out, the price hike would have a telling impression on Indian college students, who solely final yr overtook Chinese college students to change into the most important group of worldwide college students within the U.S. Together, these two international locations account for 80% of the overseas college students.

A majority of Indian college students go to the U.S. for his or her Master’s diploma. Those who graduated in 2022 and opted for an optionally available sensible coaching (OPT) work allow — which permits immigrant college students to work within the U.S. for 1-3 years — will sometimes now be within the queue for an H-1B visa. This means college students who will likely be hit by Mr. Trump’s new visa price will likely be those that have been within the nation for a few years, having already invested tens of 1000’s of {dollars}.

The new rule will particularly hit those that graduate with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) diploma, probably the most sought-after fields for employers. Indian college students are significantly susceptible as a result of a majority of them pursue STEM programs. Among the 2 largest teams of overseas college students within the U.S., greater than 75% of Indians are enrolled in STEM fields, in contrast with about 50% of Chinese.

Typically, a STEM scholar enters the H-1B queue 2-3 years after graduating. Last yr, 37% of all H-1B petitions permitted for preliminary (new) employment — the class to which the brand new price applies — had been filed by overseas college students within the U.S. who had been on F-1 visas. In some earlier years, this share crossed the 45% mark.

While the precise share of Indian college students on F-1 visas who had been permitted for preliminary H-1B employment can’t be decided immediately, two different figures spotlight the size. In FY24, 57% of all preliminary H-1B beneficiaries had been Indians, with Chinese nationals a distant second at 14%. When that is learn alongside the truth that over 75% of Indian college students within the U.S. are enrolled in STEM programs, it strongly suggests {that a} very giant share of H-1B beneficiaries transferring from scholar standing to preliminary employment had been Indians.

By the time Indian college students full their OPT, they might have already contributed a number of years of tuition and residing bills to the U.S. financial system. Last yr, worldwide college students spent almost $44 billion on their training together with tuition charges, housing, meals and different day by day bills within the U.S. Over half of this cash comes from their private and household financial savings.

A research by non-profit NAFSA, the Association of International Educators, discovered that in 2024, on common, worldwide college students spent about $39,000 every within the U.S. Given that Indians are among the many largest group of worldwide college students, a big share of this spending comes from Indian households, a lot of whom tackle loans or exhaust financial savings to cowl these prices.