New visa rules shatter techies' US dreams

H-1B VISAS, WHICH COME WITH A NEW $100,000 FEE, LEAD TO UNCERTAINTY

- BENGALURU

Indian aerospace engineering student Sudhanva Kashyap thought he had mapped out everything it would take to get to the United States, only to have his plans upended by Washington's sudden and expensive change to its skilled worker visas.

Friday's changes to the prized H-1B visas, which included a new $100,000 fee, rattled the tech industry and left US companies scrambling to figure out the implications.

Hasty clarifications from the White House that the new charge would be a one-off payment rather than the annual fee announced by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday added to the uncertainty.

'Disappointed'

The fee change rattled students like Kashyap, 21, who had pictured himself going to a top-tier American university, with Stanford his goal.