An Indian student gave up on H-1B after the proposed $100,000 fee

Shreya Mishra Reddy, 34, an Indian national currently in Toronto on a tourist visa, moved to the U.S. from India to pursue a master's in engineering management at Duke University in 2021. She graduated in 2022 and landed a job at Visa the following year. Despite multiple attempts, she did not receive an H-1B visa, forcing her to leave the U.S. in January 2026 when her student work authorization expired.

Reddy had planned to return to India and continue applying for U.S.-based roles. But in September 2025, news emerged that companies could face an additional $100,000 fee to hire H-1B employees from outside the U.S. That development, she said, made an H-1B no longer seem like a realistic option, as she expected the fee would apply to her. The fee was challenged in court and is not currently enforced, but Reddy said she is still not pursuing opportunities in the U.S. because of the uncertainty around the fee and the difficulty of finding H-1B-sponsored jobs.

Her experience highlights the challenges international students face in the U.S. job market, especially fresh graduates. "My family in India encouraged me to find a job in the US, but I found the process really difficult. My job at Visa felt like a miracle, and I think the only reason I got it was because I had prior work experience in India," she said. Many of her classmates had to move back to India because they could not find jobs, she added.

In 2025, Reddy started an online community for international students in the U.S., which now has more than 9,000 members. She has seen growing interest in talent visas for "extraordinary" individuals, such as the O-1 visa, driven by the proposed fee and uncertainty around the lottery system. But she said she has not considered applying for one, as she expects it to get harder.

Reddy is currently in Toronto on a tourist visa, where her husband lives. She is debating whether to base herself there or return to India. She has been on a career break working on personal projects, including writing a fiction book and starting a handloom brand. She is also exploring corporate jobs in fintech but will decide which country to live in based on offers and growth potential.

She does not view returning to India as a failure, noting strong growth opportunities in cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, particularly in the startup sector. "People who move to the US for a few years often see returning to India as a failure, but I'm not scared to do this," she said.

Reddy still regards U.S.-based education highly. She was accepted into a master's program in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in March but decided not to proceed due to uncertainty around student visas and the job market.

"I couldn't stay in the US longer, but I feel optimistic about my future outside the country," she said. "Not getting a job in the US is not the end of the world."

Business Insider confirmed that Reddy was employed by Visa. Visa declined to respond to a request for comment.