The Indian technician says that although his company applied for a green card in 2017, he sees himself eventually returning to India. (Photo: Seattle Times)
When President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee for the H-1B jets last September, Indian technologist Abhishek Abhyankar was in India for his wedding. At the time, it was not immediately clear who would have to pay the fees, and Abhyankar said his friends panicked and urged him to book the first flight to Seattle and attend his reception virtually from the United States.
Abhyankar refused, and after that he and his wife, also an H-1B visa holder, had no problems returning to the U.S. But neither of them had forgotten the incident, and it served as a reminder of how conditional their status in the United States was. “This has created a lot of panic and uncertainty.”The $100,000 H-1B visa fee is a fee that companies pay when they file a new petition for employment from outside the United States on an H-1B visa. This was not meant for Aviankar who completed a decade in the US.Abhyankar told The Seattle Times that he came to the United States in 2014 to complete his graduate studies and then got a job and settled down. His employer had already applied for a green card in 2017. But he did not see himself becoming a permanent resident of the United States. Not because of the long waiting time. But he sees himself returning to India eventually. “The uncertainty of not being in the right position looms large in my mind,” he said.For foreign-born workers in the United States, it is announced one ad after another.
Then come the clarifications. For example, when the $100,000 H-1B visa fee was announced, there was no clarity on who would have to pay it. Panic spread as visa holders believed that everyone outside the country would have to pay fees. Later, it was stated that companies hiring H-1B visa holders after the announcement date would have to pay the fee.
Likewise, the Trump administration recently announced that nonimmigrant visa holders will not be allowed to wait for their green cards in the United States — they will have to return to their countries and go through consular procedures. Days later, the administration said there was no need to panic because most visa holders would be able to stay in the United States.
