Has the American Dream Ended for Professionals from India
Despite their success Indian Americans cannot influence US policies since they are not major donors to philanthropies and lobbying groups says Ignatius Chithelen
September 28, 2025
By Ignatius Chithelen*
Indian professionals migrate to take up jobs in numerous countries, seeking to escape the massive unemployment and low wages in India. While working in many of the countries, they are fully aware that they have almost no chance of becoming a citizen. This is true for millions of Indians in the United Arab Emirates and other Middle East Kingdoms as well as in Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Singapore. Once their employment ends in these countries they have to return to India or find a job in another country.
Over the past decade or so, this was also largely true in the United States. In fact, back in 2020, a report by the Cato Institute noted that recent skilled Indian workers face “a de facto ban on legal permanent residence” visas, which are known as green cards. An estimated 200,000 Indian petitioners would die “of old age before they receive green cards,” the report added. There is a decades long wait for the cards since there are more than a million Indians in line, including professionals, their spouses and children.
There are roughly five million Indians in the US, with two thirds of them being immigrants. The US is the second most popular global destination for Indians seeking work, after the United Arab Emirates, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Professionals from India began migrating to the US after 1965, when immigration policies were changed to admit non-Europeans with advanced science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees.
Indians have the highest education and earn the most among the ethnic groups in the US, according to the Pew Research Center. Given their wealth, key roles as business founders, chief executives, engineers, doctors, and scientists, and large population, Indians should have a major voice in American policy, especially on those which impacts Indians.
However, wealthy Indians in the US - also in India and elsewhere - believe their financial success is due to their talent and hard work and so they owe little to society. Unlike Americans, Indians give very little back to the community which provided them with a superior education and major career and business opportunities. In fact, since first arriving in the US in the late 1960s, Indians have donated a total of less than $1 billion to philanthropies in the US, according to an estimate by this publication. Such giving is tiny considering there are dozens of Indian billionaires and hundreds of centi-millionaires in the US.
Given their lack of philanthropy and contributions to lobbying and community groups, it is not surprising that Indians have little influence over American policy and elected officials. This is currently evident from Indians being unable to dilute provisions of the new US H-1B work visa policies, which restricts entry of professionals from India.
(Image: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)
Indian immigrants in the US include roughly 300,000 professionals working on temporary work visas, known as H-1B visas. Indians account for nearly three quarters of the H-1B recipients. They work in the US as long as an employer hires them, while hoping to secure a green card.
There are then more than 422,000 students from India at US universities. They came in pursuit of the “American dream,” as a Wall Street Journal report put it. The dream is the ideal that the US is a land of opportunity that allows the possibility of upward mobility, freedom and equality for people of all classes who work hard and have the will to succeed. The students optimistically assumed that, similar to Indians working on practical training and H-1B visas, they would find work in the US upon graduation and repay their education debt.
For the students, those on practical training visas, and some on work visas, from India, the path to the American dream just formally ended. As a blog post by the American Immigration Council notes, “What were once difficult pathways to citizenship (for foreigners), however, have become all but impossible under the second Trump administration.”
Starting this month, companies in the US are required to pay a $100,000 fee to hire a foreigner on a H-1B visa. At best, some of the major technology companies will pay the fee to hire a few hundred PhDs from the top US universities in artificial intelligence, robotics, computer science, data science, and bio-technology. This means that the chances of the vast majority of STEM students from India finding work in the US on a H-1B visa is now close to zero, down from the previous one in 15.
Sadly, most students from India have taken on nearly $200,000 in debt to pursue STEM Master’s degrees at mid or low-tier US institutions. Now, with no chance of securing a H-1B work visa, they believe that, upon graduation, they will be hired on practical training (OPT) visas. Such visas last three years for STEM graduates and one year for those with non-STEM degrees.
But the chances of securing the OPT visa was one in three, and that too for Indians with advanced STEM degrees. The job prospects, on both OPT and H-1B visas, were far lower for Indians earning an US undergraduate, advanced social science, or even an MBA degree.
Also, it is likely that the Trump Administration will restrict issuance of the visa, perhaps requiring a large fee for their use, similar to that for the H-1B visas. So, most students will have to return to India, burdened by the huge loan taken on to pay for their US education. The salary data clearly shows that it is nearly impossible for most STEM students to repay their loans, based on jobs they find in India.
Some of the top STEM students and professionals from India, including those with US degrees, will find jobs in Germany and China. Last week, officials from both countries announced plans aimed at attracting them.
“Here is my call to all highly skilled Indians,” Philipp Ackermann, Germany’s ambassador to India, posted on X/Twitter. “Germany stands out with…great job opportunities for Indians in IT, management, science and tech. Find your way to Germany to boost your career…Our migration policy works a bit like a German car. It’s reliable, it is modern, it is predictable. It will go in a straight line with no zigzags. And you don’t have to fear a full break at a top speed.”
Similarly, starting on October 1, China is introducing a new K visa which will “facilitate the entry for foreign young” STEM students and professionals. “China’s development requires the participation of talent from around the world, and China’s development also provides opportunities for them,” according to a statement published by a Chinese government agency.
But it is unlikely that, even together, Germany and China will annually hire around 130,000 STEM professionals from India, effectively replacing the total hired by the US on practical training and professional work visas. Currently, there are roughly 137,000 Indians working in Germany, mostly in STEM fields, while there are around 53,000 Indians in China, mainly in Hong Kong.
So, perhaps a few thousand STEM professionals in India, who learn German and Chinese, will find jobs in those countries. The work visas there will also be temporary, as in the Middle East Kingdoms and in the US.