Indian techie’s joyful move to San Francisco turns sour as Trump imposes $100,000 H-1B fee: ‘Worst day’

What began as a joyous post an Indian software engineer celebrating his move to the United States soon turned bittersweet following a new policy announced President Donald Trump. On September 19, Jatin, a Indian tech professional, shared a picture of himself on X, formerly Twitter, announcing his arrival in California. His caption read: “Life update: Relocated to San Francisco Bay Area!” An Indian techie posted about moving to San Francisco, only to find his timing clashed with Trump’s costly new H-1B visa rules.(X/@jatinkrmalik) (Also read: Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visas sparks worries about ‘Indians in IT sector’) The excitement did not last long. Just hours later, Jatin returned to the platform with a follow-up note that reflected his disappointment. “Couldn’t have picked a worse day to post this update,” he wrote, hinting at how the timing of his big news had clashed with the White House’s proclamation. Check out the post here: Trump’s proclamation on H-1B visasOn Friday, United States President Donald Trump signed a proclamation introducing a massive hike in visa costs. The order requires companies seeking H-1B visas for foreign workers to pay an annual application fee of 100,000 US dollars. “The Proclamation restricts entry for aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in specialty occupations in the H-1B programme unless their petition is accompanied a 100,000 dollar payment,” a White House statement explained. The proclamation outlined strong concerns about the way the visa system has been used information technology companies. “The H-1B nonimmigrant visa programme was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour,” it said. It added that “Information technology firms in particular have prominently manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields. The share of IT workers in the H-1B programme grew from 32 percent in Fiscal Year 2003 to an average of over 65 percent in the last five fiscal years.” A hefty barrier for migrant workersThe proclamation stated: “The entry into the United States of aliens as nonimmigrants to perform services in a specialty occupation is restricted… except for those aliens whose petitions are accompanied or supplemented a payment of 100,000 dollars.” (Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)