Shock move puts NRI families’ plans on hold

Airfares to the US surged and major technology companies issued emergency travel advisories on Saturday as thousands of Indian H-IB visa holders made last-minute change of plans — some deciding to rush back while other abandoned plans to travel back home for festivals — even as American officials later clarified that existing foreign workers will not be slapped with a prohibitive $100,000 fee

- HT Correspondents

The panic followed President Donald Trump's surprise announcement of a $100,000 annual H-1B visa fee, with the official proclamation stating, “entry into the US of aliens as non-immigrants to perform services ina specialty occupation” would be restricted “except for those whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented bya payment of $100,000.”

Amazon, Microsoft and other tech firms immediately told staff to abandon travel plans and return before the Sunday deadline.

“Ifyou have H-1B status and are in the US, stay in the country for now,” Amazon stated in an internal note obtained by Reuters. Microsoft issued similar guidance, telling workers and families to “stay in the US for the foreseeable future

However, a US official later clarified that “Indians on H-IB visas do not need to rush back to America by Sunday or pay $100,000 to reenter the country,” stressing that the visa fee in the White House Executive Order will apply only to new visa petitions and not to renewals.