'India of 2025' is a far more exciting place than what it was two decades ago, according to Edelweiss AMC's Managing Director and CEO Radhika Gupta. Amid the latest H1-B visa fee hike, the India Inc leader took to 'X' (formerly Twitter) and said she graduated from the US in 2005, however, 'India of 2025' is a far more exciting place than 'India of 2005' ever was.
This comes as US President Donald Trump hiked the annual fee for H1-B visa. Visa applicants and holders now have to pay $100,000 every year through their employer or they will be barred from the country.
Three years after Gupta graduated in 2005, a financial crisis created a similar type of confusion for Indian students and professionals in the US. Many of them came back to India, including the people who had visas. Gupta was one of the returnees.
After 20 years, these returnees have built a fulfilling life in India where there are 'tremendous' professional opportunities. "Personally, I wouldn't want to go back — at all," she said in her post. She asked the students who are in US campus now and feel disheartened to ''hang in there''.
"When one door closes, other opens back home... India of 2025 is a far more exciting place than India of 2005 ever was. Chin up. Aao, ab laut chalen!," concluded Gupta, in an attempt to call students back home.
I was fortunate to graduate in 2005, when H-1B norms were far more favorable in the US. But things changed quickly in 2008 during the financial crisis — many Indian students felt upset, lost, and stuck.
September 20, 2025
Some eventually returned home, and years later, even those of us who still…Last year, Indians accounted for 71% of the H1-B visa approvals, as per official data. This means that the visa fee hike will impact the Indians employed in technology firms, and studying in US campuses, most.
At present, the visas are valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years. Trump said that companies need to make sure if they are hiring very highly skilled employees who are worth payment of $100,000 a year to keep them in the job.
Immigration attorneys and companies have asked H1-B visa holders or their family outside to return to the US immediately within 24 hours. Otherwise, they will be at risk being stranded or denied entry to the US.
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