The Trump administration has both deliberate or set in movement a collection of measures on US visas that analysts say are aimed toward deterring American employers from hiring international staff and making immigration to the nation harder.
The measures vary from steep new charges on H-1B functions and visa extensions to greater minimal wages, and stretch to the scholar work programme and, doubtlessly, to green-card queues. On Tuesday, the administration issued a pause on visa appointments for candidates world wide because the immigration crackdown within the Republican chief’s second time period continued.
The narrowing paths to the American dream had been already closing in earlier than the newest strikes. H-1B registrations fell from about 794,000 in 2023 to roughly 344,000 final yr, in response to US Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS) information. The share of US corporations open to hiring international enterprise college graduates dropped from 55% in 2022 to 29% in 2026, in response to a Graduate Administration Admission Council survey reported by Bloomberg.
Additionally learn: US visa rules change from September 15: What H-1B holders, students need to know
On the scholar aspect, worldwide functions for the 2026-27 admissions cycle fell 10% year-on-year, the sharpest drop on file, a Widespread App report mentioned. Purposes from India, the only largest supply nation for American universities, had been down 15% over the identical timeframe, it mentioned.
The measures are at present in several levels of planning and implementation:
Anticipated to be applied
The 9/11 Response and Biometric Entry-Exit Payment enlargement
From September 9, American employers with 50 or extra workers — greater than half of whom are on H-1B or L-1 standing — must pay $4,000 for each H-1B visa extension they file for and $4,500 for each L-1 extension.
The charge has been in place since 2015, however what’s new is its scope. Till now, the cost utilized solely to contemporary hires or job switches. Visa extensions had been exempt.
Which means that what was a one-time cost on the level of rent will quickly flip right into a working invoice. The US authorities estimates that the change will yield it about $157.3 million a yr.
Indian info expertise firms are prone to really feel this shift nearly instantly. Their US companies run on engineers deputed for multi-year onshore stints, renewed periodically via visa extensions.
The ‘length of standing’ alternative rule
An F-1 visa is the usual US scholar visa issued to international nationals enrolled in educational programmes at American universities. Underneath the sooner association, an F-1 was legitimate for the ‘length of standing’ — that’s, for so long as the course of research lasted, with no fastened cap.
The brand new rule replaces that open-ended validity with a hard and fast interval of admission capped at 4 years. College students enrolled in longer programs, corresponding to sure doctoral or medical programmes, must apply to USCIS for an extension of keep to finish their research. The post-completion grace interval, throughout which a scholar might stay within the nation after ending the course, has additionally been lower from 60 days to 30.
Additionally learn: US pauses all immigrant visa appointments globally amid H-1B row, crackdown: Report
The rule is ready to come back into impact on September 15, in response to the Division of Homeland Safety.
But it surely has been categorized as a “main rule”, which supplies the Congress a window to go a joint decision to overturn it, if it so chooses. DHS has mentioned it’s going to difficulty an extra discover if the efficient date modifications.
Indian nationals kind one of many largest cohorts in US doctoral and medical programmes, and can bear the extension-of-stay forms disproportionately. Mixed with the OPT cost into account (see beneath), the tighter four-year window will add an added course of and price to a study-to-work route that Indians have for many years handled as one of many strongest arguments for a US schooling.
In a limbo
The unique $100,000 H-1B entry charge
Issued as a presidential proclamation in September 2025, this measure imposed a $100,000 charge on H-1B staff being employed from exterior the US. It invoked the president’s authority to limit the entry of international nationals deemed detrimental to US pursuits, and it didn’t apply to in-country hires or to cap-exempt employers.
Earlier than it, there was no comparable entry charge. The common H-1B software charge stood at $780 within the Joe Biden administration’s remaining yr.
A federal decide in Boston struck down the proclamation in June this yr, ruling that the charge was in impact a tax and that solely the US Congress might impose one. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling.
In the meantime, the proclamation is scheduled to run out this September except prolonged.
Indians had been anticipated to be among the many worst affected by the rule as a result of they make up for a majority of H1B visa recipients. In fiscal yr 2025, Indians accounted for 70% of H-1B staff.
Proposed, awaiting remaining adoption
The $103,265 cap-subject H-1B charge
This might be a contemporary cost on US employers, on high of each different H-1B charge they already pay. Underneath the proposal, an employer would owe $103,265 for every new H-1B petition filed below the annual cap — the 85,000-visa pool that features 20,000 slots reserved for candidates who maintain a US Grasp’s diploma or greater. DHS has framed the charge as a method to recuperate the federal government’s prices of working the legal-immigration system. The proposal was revealed within the Federal Register on August 24. The 30-day remark window closes in late September, so the rule could possibly be finalised by year-end. However analysts say the charge is predicted to be challenged in courts because it seems to be simply one other authorized path to levy $100,000 per H-1B software.
Implementing such a charge would hit Indian H-1B candidates. As an illustration, an employer must pay roughly $10.3 million solely to file functions for sponsoring simply 100 H-1B staff.
The wage rule
The US Division of Labor (DOL) has proposed elevating the minimal salaries that US employers should pay international staff on H-1B, H-1B1, E-3 and PERM visas. These are generally known as ‘prevailing wages’ — government-set wage flooring.
Underneath the present system, employers should pay a international employee at one in every of 4 wage ranges, tied to the seniority of the job, from entry-level to knowledgeable. Every stage is pegged to a degree on the pay scale of US staff in comparable jobs.
The DOL proposal shifts every of the 4 ranges sharply upward, which means most H-1B and PERM roles would have to be paid considerably greater than they’re as we speak. The steepest leap falls on the entry-level tier, the place the minimal wage would rise by about 30%. The upper tiers would additionally rise, although the precise greenback influence varies by occupation and placement.
Additionally learn: For Indians in the US, two new $100,000 walls may be coming up: What H-1B visa and OPT fees could mean
The discover of the proposed rule was revealed within the Federal Register this March, and the general public remark interval closed in Could. DOL is reviewing the submissions. The rule will not be but remaining.
Indian staff within the US are concentrated at ranges I and II — early- and mid-career specialty roles, the place the proposed minimum-wage will increase are the steepest. An analyst estimates that the change might value the most important H-1B employers as a lot as $18 billion within the first yr of implementation, in response to Bloomberg.
Into consideration
$100,000 charge on OPT
F-1 college students must pay $100,000 to make use of Non-obligatory Sensible Coaching (OPT), the programme that lets international graduates work within the US for one to a few years after finishing their research, in fields associated to their diploma. OPT has no comparable upfront charge at current. It’s the usual bridge from an American diploma to an H-1B or different US work visa.
Indian college students are the most important single nationwide cohort utilizing OPT, with greater than 363,000 enrolled in US establishments within the 2024-25 educational yr, in response to US authorities information. A $100,000 charge is predicted to shut this post-graduation work window for a overwhelming majority of them and, in impact, unravel the financial case for a US diploma.
DHS has acknowledged this rule is being thought-about, although the proposal has not but been revealed within the Federal Register.
$100,000 refundable green-card bond
Candidates for sure immigrant visas — the consular path to a inexperienced card, utilized from exterior the US — must submit a refundable bond of as much as $100,000. The bond can be returned when the applicant naturalises as a US citizen, usually no less than 5 years after receiving the inexperienced card.
No such bond exists on immigrant visas as we speak. The State Division at present runs a small B-1/B-2 visitor-visa bond pilot with bonds of $5,000 to $15,000.
The State Division is evaluating this proposal; it isn’t but within the Federal Register and is predicted to be piloted in a small variety of international locations first.
