Indian Engineer Drops U.S. Job Hunt After $100,000 H-1B Fee Shock
Shreya Mishra Reddy moved to the United States for graduate school, landed a job at Visa, and still ended up packing her life into a. Indian Engineer Drops —…
Shreya Mishra Reddy moved to the United States for graduate school, landed a job at Visa, and still ended up packing her life into a departure from the country. The 34-year-old Indian national says she has now abandoned her search for an H-1B work visa after a proposed $100,000 fee made the route look too uncertain.
Reddy is currently in Toronto on a tourist visa. She studied engineering management at Duke University, arriving from India in 2021 for her master’s degree, and graduated in 2022. The following year, she joined Visa. But despite trying, she did not win an H-1B visa, and her student work authorization expired in January 2026, forcing her to leave the U.S.
A costly policy jolt
Her next step was supposed to be simple: return to India and keep applying for U.S.-based jobs. Then, in September 2025, news broke that companies could face an extra $100,000 fee to hire H-1B workers from outside the U.S. For Reddy, that changed the math fast. She says the visa no longer felt realistic because she expected the charge would apply to her.
The fee has since been challenged in court and is not being enforced at the moment. Still, the uncertainty has been enough to keep her from chasing U.S. opportunities. No job search. No fresh applications.
Just wait. That was enough.
Why the visa path feels different now
Reddy’s experience echoes a wider anxiety among international graduates who build careers in the U.S. but remain dependent on employer sponsorship. The H-1B system has long been a bottleneck, with demand far outstripping supply. Add a steep fee, even one under legal challenge, and the route can feel closed before it begins.
She said social media had painted an overly rosy picture of life in America, leaving her family and her unprepared for the strain many international students face. The gap between the promise and the reality became clearer only after she moved.
That gap matters. For students weighing degrees, career plans and where to settle, visa rules can shape everything from hiring decisions to long-term ambitions. Reddy is no longer building her future around the U.S. market. She says she is optimistic about what comes next outside it.
Her uncertainty now sits against a hard number: $100,000.