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Economic Times
20 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Planning a US trip? What Indian applicants must know about key visa changes
Agencies If you are planning to apply for a US visa this year, there are three key changes that Indian applicants need to prepare for. These updates, some already in effect, others starting later in 2025, reflect a broader tightening of US immigration policy under the Trump administration's 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act.' Here's a breakdown of what's changing, why it matters, and how it may affect your visa process. 1. Public social media required for student visas (effective from June 23, 2025) The first major change applies to those applying under student and exchange visitor visa categories, namely F, M, and J visas. Since June 23, the US government requires all such applicants to make their social media accounts public. This means if you're applying for a US student visa, you must not only list all the usernames you've used in the last five years on your visa application form (DS-160), but also ensure that your current profiles are accessible to US consular officers. The US State Department says this step is part of enhanced digital screening. Officers may now review public content such as posts, likes, comments, and group affiliations. Content that is seen as extremist, violent, antisemitic, or hostile to the US could raise red flags. Even if your past accounts were private, your current settings must be public at the time of application. Applicants are advised not to delete or deactivate their accounts just before applying. Doing so may be interpreted as an attempt to hide information. It's also recommended to keep usernames consistent across platforms to reduce the risk of delays or suspicion. 2. $250 visa integrity fee (effective from October 1,2025) From 1 October 2025, most Indian citizens applying for a US visa will need to pay an additional $250 (approximately ₹21,500) as a 'visa integrity fee.' This applies to nearly all nonimmigrant visa types, including student, work, and visitor visas. As reported by Forbes , this fee is part of a new law passed under the Trump administration and targets travellers from countries that are not part of the US visa waiver program. For Indian applicants, this includes: F-1 and F-2 visas (students and dependents) J-1 and J-2 visas (exchange visitors) H1-B and H-4 visas (temporary workers and dependents) B1/B2 visitor visas (business and tourism) This new fee is in addition to existing visa charges such as the machine-readable visa (MRV) application fee, reciprocity fees, and fraud prevention fees. According to estimates, total US visa costs for Indians may now range from $425 to $473, depending on the visa US Department of Homeland Security has indicated that applicants who comply fully with their visa terms, such as leaving the US on time or converting to legal permanent residence, may be eligible for reimbursement. However, no detailed mechanism has yet been announced. 3. Stricter interview waiver rules (effective from September 2, 2025) The third change relates to visa interviews. Starting 2 September 2025, the US will scale back its interview waiver programme. This means that most applicants will now be required to attend an in-person interview at a US consulate, even if they are renewing a previous the revised policy, only certain applicants, such as diplomats and foreign officials, will be automatically exempt. For tourists or business visitors renewing a full-validity B-1, B-2, or B1/B2 visa, a waiver may still be possible, but only if: The renewal application is submitted in the applicant's home country There are no past visa refusals (unless formally resolved or waived) There is no other known ineligibility Despite meeting these conditions, consular officers still reserve the right to call any applicant for an interview. What this means for Indian applicants These updates signal a shift toward more scrutiny and longer processing times. If you're planning to study, work, or visit the US in the coming months, it's important to prepare early: Review your online profiles and keep them consistent Budget for higher visa costs Factor in possible delays due to interview requirements (Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates) Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Zomato delivered, but did the other listed unicorns? Trump tariffs: End of road or a new journey ending Russia reliance? As rates slide, who will grab the savings pie? MFs, insurers? Is it time for Tim Cook to bid bye to Apple? Regulators promote exchanges; can they stifle one? Watch IEX Stock Radar: Down over 20% from highs! Varun Beverages stock showing signs of trend reversal – time to buy? 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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Microsoft says H-1B visas, layoffs ‘in no way' related
This story was originally published on CFO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CFO Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Microsoft — which has been drawn into the crossfire around the tech industry's use of the H-1B visa program that allows U.S. employers to employ foreign skilled workers in specialty occupations — rejected criticism which tied its recent layoffs to the company's reliance on foreign worker visas. 'Our H-1B applications are in no way related to the recent job eliminations in part because employees on H-1B's also lost their roles. In the past 12 months, 78% of the petitions we filed were extensions for existing employees and not new employees coming to the U.S.,' the company said in a statement emailed to CFO Dive by a spokesperson. Vice President JD Vance last week called out the tech company for laying off American workers while relying heavily on immigrant labor through the visa program, questioning the economic logic and ethics of the dual moves, Newsweek reported. 'I don't want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, 'We can't find workers here in America,'' Vance reportedly said at a bipartisan event Wednesday. Dive Insight: The scrutiny of Microsoft's use of the visa program comes at the end of a month in which the company announced that it will lay off about 9,000 employees across different teams in its global workforce. It's not the first time the H-1B program has drawn fire: in December it sparked a heated debate on social media among key backers of Trump, with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) then co-leads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy voicing support for it while some conservatives, including former South Carolina governor and former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, rallied against hiring workers from outside the U.S. The H-1B visa program is a tool that tech industry finance and human resource leaders have used to draw top talent no matter where they are located. For example, before the start of the Trump administration's second term Intuit CFO Sandeep Aujla pushed back against a protectionist view of the skilled labor market in an interview with CFO Dive, defending the visas and warning against the country becoming isolationist, asserting the importance of allowing access to the global talent pool. But, in addition to raids by the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement of certain farms and other employers of undocumented workers, by April the new administration's crackdown on immigration appeared to be chilling companies' prospects for getting visas for white-collar jobs too, with immigration lawyers saying they were already starting to see sharper vetting of work authorizations, CFO Dive previously reported. Last week the newly-minted director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlow, signaled that more change is coming, saying the Trump administration is planning to target the process that grants H1-B visas to skilled foreign workers, The New York Times reported Friday. Edlow asserted that the system that is now a lottery should favor companies who pay foreign workers higher wages, according to the report. Recommended Reading Minnesota CPA pathways bills get warmer welcome amid momentum shift 擷取數據時發生錯誤 登入存取你的投資組合 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤 擷取數據時發生錯誤
NDTV
6 days ago
- Business
- NDTV
'Enigma Of Success': Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella After 15,000 Job Cuts
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Friday said the massive layoffs in 2025 weighed heavily on him, even as the company continued to thrive. In a memo to employees, Mr Nadella said: "Before anything else, I want to speak to what's been weighing heavily on me, and what I know many of you are thinking about: the recent job eliminations. These decisions are among the most difficult we have to make." He acknowledged that while 15,000 roles, including 9,000 in early July, have been cut this year, the company's overall headcount remains largely unchanged. Despite the scale of the workforce reductions, Mr Nadella mentioned that the tech giant was going strong with its market performance, including strategic positioning and growth, all pointing up and to the right. He called it an "enigma of success," adding that tech companies must constantly evolve to stay ahead. The 57-year-old said the company was reimagining its mission to stay relevant in today's fast-changing era. "What does empowerment look like in the era of AI?" he asked. Mr Nadella stated that the company was now looking for building tools that give the ability to people to build their own tools using AI, instead of focusing on tools for specific roles or tasks. "That's the shift we are driving-from a software factory to an intelligence engine empowering every person and organization to build whatever they need to achieve," he added. The CEO also mentioned the company's goals, with three major priorities - security, quality, and AI transformation. "Security and quality are non-negotiable," he added. Earlier this week, US Vice President JD Vance slammed Microsoft for firing 9,000 Americans while still going for H1-B visas, reported Fox Business. "You see some big tech companies where they'll lay off 9,000 workers, and then they'll apply for a bunch of overseas visas." He lambasted the company's hiring practices, stating, "But I don't want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, 'We can't find workers here in America. That's a bulls**t story."
Mint
6 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Vance lashes out at Microsoft for firing Americans, hiring H1-B workers; tech investor fact checks him
US Vice President JD Vance gave a stern H-1B visa message, slamming companies for allegedly laying off American workers and continuing to hike overseas employees, only to be fact-checked by an Indian origin tech investor. Lashing out at companies like Microsoft for laying off thousands of employees, Vance said he did not believe in the 'bulls**t story' that they cannot find workers in America. Speaking at a bipartisan event co-hosted by the Hill and Valley Forum, Donald Trump's deputy questioned the logic for companies like Microsoft firing thousands and then applying for H1-B visas for workers, implying they are hiring overseas. 'You see some big tech companies where they'll lay off 9,000 workers, and then they'll apply for a bunch of overseas visas. And I sort of wonder; that doesn't totally make sense to me,' Vance said. The US V-P said that this pattern 'worries me a bit' 'That displacement and that math worries me a bit. And what the president has said, he said very clearly: We want the very best and the brightest to make America their home. We want them to build great companies and so forth,' he said. 'But I don't want companies to fire 9,000 American workers and then to go and say, 'We can't find workers here in America.' That's a bulls**t story,' Vance added. JD Vance's comments come days after it was reported that Satya Nadella-led Microsoft has fired 9,000 employees but applied for more than 6,000 H-1B visas since October. JD Vance's comments were immediately fact-checked by an Indian-origin tech investor, who said that the leader was 'misleading people'. In a post on X, the tech investor wrote, 'Microsoft didn't bring in new foreign workers after laying people off , they renewed visas for long-time employees who've been in the U.S. legally for many many years, stuck in green card backlogs.' He said that companies are letting their long-time employees stay in the job that was earned by them. 'Saying that's 'replacing Americans' is like saying letting a loyal employee stay and renew his visa in the building is the same as hiring someone new off the street,' the tech investor wrote. 'It's not. It's just letting them stay in the job they already earned.' He asked Vance to stop 'weaponising lies'. 'And here's what JD won't say: many of the 9,000 laid off were H‑1Bs too. They got no severance, no safety net , just a 60-day countdown to leave the country. If you care about fairness, fix the backlog. Don't weaponize lies.'
Mint
6 days ago
- Politics
- Mint
Donald Trump govt mulls changes to US citizenship test, H-1B visa program: What it means?
Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services Joseph Edlow said this week that President Donald Trump's administration is considering changes to the test to become a US citizen. Earlier, it was reported that the administration was planning to change the visa system for skilled foreign workers by doing away with the H1-B visa lottery system. Joseph Edlow, the director of USCIS, told the New York Times on Thursday that the administration wanted to change the naturalisation test required by prospective US citizens. As of now, immigrants study 100 civics questions and then must respond correctly to six out of 10 questions to pass that portion of the test. During the first Trump administration, the agency increased the number of questions and required applicants to respond correctly to 12 out of 20 questions. Edlow said the agency plans to return to a version of that test soon, the NYT reported. In an interview with The New York Times, Joseph Edlow said the test to become a US citizen was too easy and should change. 'The test as it's laid out right now, it's not very difficult,' Edlow said on Thursday, adding. 'It's very easy to kind of memorise the answers. I don't think we're really comporting with the spirit of the law.' Edlow's proposed changes would have to be approved through the federal government's rule-making process. The Donald Trump administration is reportedly planning to revamp the H1-B visa lottery system, aiming to replace it with a more weighted and wage-linked selection process. The proposed changes aim to give preference to certain applicants based on additional criteria—potentially including wages—thereby benefiting highly-skilled and higher-paid professionals. Currently, the system is quite simple. Applicants who are eligible for H1-B visa submit their applications, and a computer-run lottery randomly selects the recipients. Each year, about 85,000 H-1B visas are issued, including 20,000 reserved for individuals holding a Master's degree or higher from a US university. On January 8, 2021, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule to modify its process for selecting H-1B petitions when registrations surpass the annual limit of 85,000. So, what changes does the administration propose? As per Forbes, in the final rule in 2021, DHS described the new selection process as: 'The USCIS will rank and select the petitions received on the basis of the highest Occupational Employment Statistics wage level that the proffered wage equals or exceeds for the relevant Standard Occupational Classification code in the area of intended employment, beginning with OES wage level IV and proceeding in descending order with OES wage levels III, II, and I.' A study by the Institute for Progress earlier this year found, as reported by the Hindustan Times, that if higher salaries were given priority instead of using a random lottery, the average salary of an H-1B visa holder could rise from around $106,000 to $172,000. That would likely make things much harder for outsourcing firms who rely on hiring large numbers of lower-wage workers, but could be a big plus for researchers, PhD holders, and senior-level tech professionals, the report added. Doug Rand, a former Biden administration official, said changing the H1-B process to favour higher-wage earners was misguided. 'Like it or not, the H-1B program is the main way that US companies can hire the best and brightest international graduates of US universities, and Congress never allowed DHS to put its thumb on the scale based on salary,' he said. Regarding the plan to change the H-1B visa program for foreign workers, it has been the subject of debate within the Republican Party. Edlow said it should favour companies that plan to pay foreign workers higher wages. the proposed changes to the system could alleviate criticism from those in the right wing of the Republican Party who say the program attracts workers willing to accept lower salaries than American workers. This week, US Vice President JD Vance had criticised companies that lay off their own employees and then hire foreign workers. But some of Trump's most prominent backers in the tech industry said they rely on the H-1B visa program because they can't find enough qualified American workers. Edlow was quoted by NYT as saying, 'I really do think that the way H-1B needs to be used, and this is one of my favorite phrases, is to, along with a lot of other parts of immigration, supplement, not supplant, US economy and US businesses and US workers."
