NEW DELHI: The abrupt announcement by the US to levy an annual fee of $100,000 (Rs 88.13 lakh approximately) on H1-B visa holders from September 21, with a mere 36-hour window, stunned Indian techies living in the US as well as those planning to visit the country.
Plans to travel outside America or in the return direction have been abruptly cancelled or advanced by hundreds of them and their families.
While many cancelled plans to travel at the last minute while waiting to board flights to India, several others already in India are scrambling to return amid lack of clarity as the US fiat comes weeks before Indian professionals and their families travel to India for Diwali and other holidays.
Atal Agarwal, founder of OpenSphere, an AI company that offers Global Mobility Services for Immigrants, told this paper from Canada that he was inundated with messages for help from Indians in the US.
“Never in modern history has a policy affecting 500K+ highly skilled workers been implemented with a 48-hr notice... Airports are flooded. Flight prices are skyrocketing.”
Airfares from New Delhi to the US were in excess of $4,500 on a private airline’s portal. Communication sent to staff by Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft urged employees to stay put in the US while asking those outside to return before the deadline. Individuals on H-1B visas told a news agency anonymously that the underlying emotion among H-1B visa holders and families right now is “a crazy sense of panic and worry.”