What began as an ordinary weekend of travel quickly spiralled into pandemonium at airports across the United States after President Donald Trump, in a sudden proclamation, slapped an extraordinary $100,000 annual fee on all H-1B visa holders. The order, effective immediately, sent shockwaves through the Indian diaspora, with frantic videos and eyewitness accounts flooding social media by Friday evening.
Sudden H-1B Visa Fee Hike Sparks Global Panic
According to WION, US President Donald Trump has detonated a bombshell on the H-1B community: a sudden hike in visa fees to $100,000 (₹88 lakh) with barely any breathing room before enforcement on September 21.
Within hours, panic spread across continents. Airports in the US, Dubai, and India turned chaotic as Indian tech workers abandoned flights mid-boarding, unwilling to risk being locked out of the country. The corporate response was equally frantic. Tech giants like Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon rushed out internal advisories, ordering staff stationed overseas to fly back within 24 hours and telling every H-1B holder inside the US to stay put for at least two weeks.
The ripple effects hit the travel industry almost instantly. A one-way Delhi-New York ticket that normally costs around ₹37,000 skyrocketed to ₹70,000-₹80,000 in just two hours as families scrambled to beat the deadline. Travel agents described their phone lines lighting up “like Diwali night,” with clients begging for last-minute seats.
Air Ticket Prices Surge As Indians Rush To Beat H-1B Visa Deadline
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One of the most striking clips came from San Francisco International Airport. Masud Rana, a passenger who posted the footage on Instagram, described being stuck in limbo for more than three hours after chaos broke out on board an Emirates flight. “It’s a complete chaos for the H1B VISA holder of Emirates passengers at San Francisco Airport,” he wrote.
“This Friday morning President Trump signed an order affecting both new and existing H1B visa holders, creating panic among many, particularly Indian passengers, who even chose to leave the aircraft.”
The video shows the tension firsthand: passengers leaping from their seats, clutching phones, speaking in hurried tones, some blocking aisles while others pressed toward the exits. Flight attendants’ repeated pleas to sit down and stay calm seemed to vanish into the noise. Several travellers, many of them Indians returning from Navratri and Durga Puja visits, reportedly begged to de-board. Most were refused, only heightening the confusion.
Also Read: US Imposes Nearly ₹90 Lakh Fee On H-1B Visa Application; Launches ‘Gold Card’ Residency Program
The Larger Impact Of The Visa Fee Hike
For Indians, who make up more than 70 per cent of H-1B visa holders, the proclamation is more than bureaucratic paperwork. It’s more like a seismic hit. Already tied down by long waits for green cards and complicated immigration rules, families are suddenly staring at an impossible price tag that could upend years of planning.
The ripple effects showed up almost instantly in the skies. Social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) described ticket prices from India to the US surging to $4,500 overnight, as vacationers scrambled to cut trips short. One user suggested some had been “illegally working out of India once they secured their H-1B,” adding a controversial undertone to an already heated discussion.
The Trump administration has yet to spell out exactly how this fee will be enforced, but reports circulating on Saturday warned that starting Sunday, September 21, any H-1B holder arriving at US ports of entry would be denied admission unless the fee was paid.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), caught off guard like everyone else, issued a cautious response. A spokesperson in New Delhi iterated that they are examining the implications of the decision and its potential impact on Indian nationals, as stated by Free Press Journal.
The H-1B program has long been both a lifeline and a lightning rod, feeding America’s booming tech and healthcare industries while igniting fierce political debate. But with this sweeping hike, Donald Trump hasn’t just raised the stakes, he’s detonated a crisis.
Cover Image Courtesy: mashraana/Instagram
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