Dreamers confront new H-1B realities in India’s tech cradle

Reshma Elizabath has waited over two years for her career-defining opportunity: a three-year stint at her company’s US headquarters.

- KA Shaji, Coovercolly Indresh and Vishnu Varma

Now the IT professional from Pandalur in the Nilgiris sits in her Velachery office, uncertain whether her firm will shoulder Trump's new $100,000 H-IB visa fee.

“Tm confused. Will my company still send me or ask me to contribute? I honestly don’t know,” she said, reflecting the unease gripping thousands of IT workers caught in the policy crossfire.

While the White House clarified Monday that existing visa holders need not rush back to America - or stay put —- and the fee applies only to future applications, the long-term implications for India’s technology sector and the families banking on American dreams remain profound.

The policy threatens to dismantle a decades-old business model that built Tamil Nadu and Karnataka into global IT powerhouses.

The fee hike strikes at the heart of India’s $245 billion information technology sector, where an estimated 40-50 per cent of midlevel engineers in large firms have either worked on H-IB visas or aspire to. For Tamil Nadu, often dubbed the “back office of the world,” and Karnataka, India’s technology capital, the stakes extend beyond individual careers to entire regional economies built on US-bound talent pipelines.

‘Anivar Aravind, an IT professional in Porur, and originally from Kerala, described the changes as transformational: “This isn’t just a cost increase for onsite employment, it's a fundamental change that marks the death of the traditional onsite business model. This primarily shows the H-1B visa dream is over for Indian professionals. In addition, this will also end study-inthe-US plans as well.”