The US Is Losing Top Tech Talent to India in the Wake of Trump’s H-1B Chaos

Two decades ago, Kunal Bahl almost achieved the American dream. The India-born engineer earned an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, then an internship at Microsoft Corp. That position led to an invitation to have dinner with Bill Gates at his house, and later to a full-time job at the tech giant. But the dream unraveled in 2007, when Bahl’s H-1B visa application was rejected. At 23 he packed his bags and returned to his home country. “My heart sank when I got word,” he says. “Such decisions are one-sided and irreversible.”

At the time, US companies were hungry for talented workers like Bahl, and policymakers were largely inclined to help keep them in the country. A highly qualified, US-educated engineer returning to India was unusual. But times have changed. The Trump administration has pushed a sweeping policy agenda intended to hinder immigration. This has included a move in September to increase the fees on H-1B visa applications to $100,000 apiece, a staggering tenfold hike, along with other changes that have made the program less desirable to employers. Foreign-born residents are facing increasing hostility from Washington, regardless of their legal status. For many, the long-term viability of a career in Silicon Valley seems less certain than ever.