As the US tightens its immigration, H-1B visa and outsourcing policies, a sense of unease is spreading across the tech industry, especially among those on H-1B visas.
A social media post by an anonymous tech worker struck a nerve online among immigrant professionals who say they are feeling increasingly unwanted, despite years of legal status and contributions to the American economy.
One of the key reasons behind this uncertainty is that on September 19, Trump signed an order imposing a $100,000 application fee on companies applying for new H-1B visas.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained the reasoning behind the new fee, calling the H-1B visa the “most abused” immigration program.
What does the post explain?
“I think it’s really over this time,” the post begins. “Despite the fact that we’ve worked hard, never actually practised the discrimination we’re accused of, and tried to be good upstanding people, we’re being targeted.”
The writer, who says they have always assessed job candidates on merit and “faithfully given every single resume a shot,” is reacting to a growing public narrative that blames foreign workers, especially H-1B visa holders for job displacement, wage suppression, and unfair competition in the American job market.
“This mass hysteria over ‘evil H-1B hire does X to Americans’ is NOT going away. Ever. This is our new reality now,” they add, referencing a recent date—September 19—as a turning point in public sentiment. “The golden age of H-1B is over,” the poster concludes. “We should all start packing and planning now.”
‘Netizens react…’
Netizens posted their reactions on the post. A user noted, “Sadly, it will not blow over. It will slowly become more normal to question why we are taking so many non-US citizens for all these high paying jobs. People will move on from ranting to forcing companies to prioritise citizens. Companies will initially be reluctant and will either outsource or cave to the demands. Either ways, a significant number of H-1B folks will start leaving for various reasons – stability, not getting job, wanting to be with aging parents, etc etc On one hand, it has become a little more mainstream for people to ask in all hands what is leadership doing to prioritise US citizen hiring. On the other hand, many HRs in India are reporting an uptick in resumes where the candidate has 6+ years of experience in the U.S”
“The problem is too many H-1Bs… this program should be limited to <5K visas a year – only the top skilled people should get H1B. There are almost 2M H1B/H4 EAD working in the US currently,” added a netizen.
“I’m literally training 15 replacements as we speak, except they’re all based in Bangalore. I’d much rather have H1b than this,” explained another user.
“Typical Indian victim mindset,” added another netizen. “I never understood the mindset of H1Bs who assumed the golden age will never end. They bought 2-3M houses with 30 year loans with over 8k in monthly payments. With a HHI of over 1.5M I cannot fathom doing it,” claimed another.
(This story is based on a post shared by a social media user. The details, opinions, and statements quoted herein belong solely to the original poster and do not reflect the views of Financialexpress.com. We have not independently verified the claims.)