American Firms Caught in Crossfire as Trump's Visa Changes Trigger Anti-Indian Abuse Online
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US Companies Face Online Hatred After Eye-Watering $100,000 Visa Fee Introduced
Major American companies are being hit with a wave of vicious anti-Indian abuse online following sweeping changes to the H-1B visa programme brought in by President Donald Trump. Since the government slapped on a massive $100,000 application fee and switched to a "wage-based" selection system, the nastiness online has gone way beyond arguing about policy—it's now directly targeting companies and their bosses who employ Indian workers.
The Policy That Started It All: A Six-Figure Price Tag
In late 2025, the US government completely overhauled the H-1B system, which has traditionally been used mostly by Indian nationals (who make up roughly 71% of visa holders). The main changes include:
Eye-Watering Costs:A new $100,000 fee for each new H-1B application—twenty times higher than before.
Pay-Based Priority: From February 2026, the lottery system will be scrapped and replaced with one that favours "Level-IV" applicants—the highest-paid professionals—effectively shutting out entry-level Indian engineers.
National Security Spin: The White House has rebranded high-skilled immigration as a "protecting workers" issue rather than something that drives innovation, trying to pressure companies into hiring locally.
Backlash Against American Companies
As the cost of bringing in foreign workers has skyrocketed, right-wing social media accounts and nationalist commentators have started "naming and shaming" US companies that continue to back their Indian staff.
Notable Examples:
FedEx & Raj Subramaniam: The company's Indian-born CEO recently found himself at the centre of an online pile-on. After a video of a damaged delivery van went viral, critics jumped on it as an excuse to launch racist attacks, accusing him of "replacing white American workers" with Indian employees.
Social Media "Doxxing": Anonymous accounts have started posting personal information about Indian employees at firms like Walmart, Verizon, and Dish Network. These posts often falsely claim the companies are "selling off" jobs to foreigners or involved in visa fraud.
"Project Firewall": A federal investigation into H-1B hiring has accidentally fuelled vigilante-style digging by groups who reckon American firms are "enabling the Indian takeover" of the US tech industry.
How Companies and India Are Responding
The business world and the Indian government have reacted with serious alarm:
Corporate America: Tech giants argue the $100,000 fee is "economic madness," warning it'll kill innovation and force research teams to relocate to Canada, the UK, or back to India.
Indian Government: Ministers in Delhi have called the move "hostile" and suggested it's driven by fear of Indian talent. They've warned of "humanitarian fallout" for the thousands of families stuck in limbo.
The "Reverse Brain Drain": Experts reckon that instead of helping the US, these policies are actually "supercharging" India's own tech scene as top talent heads home or picks other countries over America.
The Bottom Line
The H-1B shake-up has created a toxic situation where US companies aren't just dealing with legal obstacles—they're also having to defend who they hire against a rising tide of xenophobia. As the February 2026 deadline for the new wage-based rules gets closer, the divide between Silicon Valley's need for talent and Washington's "America First" agenda looks set to get even wider.