H-1B visa fee chaos: Indian tech professional spends $8,000 on emergency US flights

An Indian software professional has lived in the US for 11 years, spent over $8,000 on last-minute flights to return from India after fears over a new US visa fee policy, according to a BBC report.

The Indian software professional was visiting Nagpur, India, to commemorate his father’s death anniversary when he rushed to cut short his trip.

The sudden scramble came after President Donald Trump signed an executive order introducing a staggering $100,000 fee

for companies applying for skilled worker visas (H-1B), effective Sunday.

The enhanced fee caused panic among visa holders abroad, prompting many to book expensive return flights to avoid being caught outside the US when the fee took effect.

“I booked multiple options because most were cutting it very close,” the BBC report quoted the Indian software professional as saying. “Even if there was a slight delay, I’d have missed the deadline.”

The H-1B visa is critical for foreign professionals, especially from India, which accounts for over 70% of the 85,000 skilled worker visas issued annually.

The White House later clarified via Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on X that the $100,000 fee would be a one-time charge applied only to new visa applications and would not affect current visa holders or renewals.

However, this clarification came too late for many like Mehta, who described the experience as “traumatic” and expressed regret for dedicating much of his life to working in the US.

“My daughter has spent her entire life in the US. I’m not sure how I’ll uproot my life from there and start all over in India,” the BBC article quoted him as saying.