How New Rules Reduce US Work Visas for Students from India

New rules and Florida state universities ban on hiring foreigners further reduce chances of students from India finding US work visas

November 4, 2025

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Currently, several hundred thousand students in India are preparing applications for admission to universities and colleges in the United States, mainly for Master’s programs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

All of them, except those from wealthy families, will fund their US education by borrowing $100,000 to $200,000 from banks, family and friends, by pledging homes and other assets as collateral for the loans. The students hope that, upon graduation, they will secure jobs in the US on temporary work visas, which will enable them to save enough money to repay the loans.

A foreign graduate of a US university can secure a practical training work visa. The visa can be extended for a total of three years for those with US STEM degrees; and lasts one year for those with non-STEM degrees. Also, each year, a maximum 85,000 temporary work visas for skilled professionals, H-1B visas, are issued to fresh foreign applicants, some of whom are on practical training visas. The H-1B visas can be renewed for a maximum of six years.

So, in theory, a student from India could work in the US for a total of nine years, repay their education loan, save a big sum of money, and perhaps get sponsored by an employer for a permanent resident visa, or green card.

In reality, a student from India had a one in three chance of securing a practical training visa and a one in fifteen chance of securing an H-1B visa. This was for graduates with advanced STEM degrees. The prospects of securing the visas were far lower for those with an undergraduate, advanced social science, or an MBA degree.

Applicants for both work visas have to be sponsored by an employer. Also, the visas have to be renewed each year by the US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Starting October 31, the USCIS has ended the automatic extensions of most work visas. Renewal applications will be approved only if they pass a screening and vetting process. “All aliens must remember that working in the United States is a privilege, not a right,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement announcing the change. Perhaps, under the new rule, not all of the roughly 280,000 Indians on H-1 B visas, and 80,000 students from India on practical training visas, will be able to continue working in the US since their visas may not be renewed.

Other recent changes in the visa rules have also made it tougher for students and professionals from India to be find jobs in the US.

The cap of 85,000 annual new H-1B hires applies only to businesses. It does not apply to hiring of foreigners by institutions of higher education, non-profit research and government research organizations.

Last week, state-run universities and colleges in Florida were prohibited from hiring foreigners on H-1B visas. “Universities across the country are importing foreign workers on H-1B visas instead of hiring Americans who are qualified and available to do the job,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said in a statement. “We will not tolerate H-1B abuse in Florida institutions. That’s why I have directed the Florida Board of Governors to end this practice.”

In fiscal year 2025, state-run institutions hired half of the roughly 17,000 foreigners employed by US universities on H-1B visas, according to an analysis of USCIS data by Inside Higher Ed. Now most of those jobs for foreigners is at risk. Following Florida’s lead, other Republican governors will likely bar their state educational institutions from hiring foreigners. Also, private universities - as well as non-profit and government research organizations - will likely face pressure from the US administration to reduce, even stop, hiring foreigners.

Then in September, the US administration introduced a $100,000 fee to be paid by employers hiring a foreigner on an H-1B visa. The initial rules implied that the fee applies only to employers in the US hiring a non-citizen based outside the country who does not have a valid H-1B visa. Roughly half of the new H-1B visas issued each year went to such foreign-based hires.

The fee may impact Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and other Indian technology outsourcing firms, who send employees from India to the US on H-1B visas. The optimists, among students from India in the US, assumed that the fee would not apply to them. However, last month, new USCIS rules were unclear on whether employers are also required to pay the fee to hire foreigners who are in the US on student and other work visas.

It appears an employer’s ability to hire foreigners, without paying the fee, has to be approved by the agency. “Petitions subject to the $100,000 payment that are filed without evidence of payment or the grant of an exception will be denied,” according to the USCIS. “Will USCIS issue a Notice of Intent to Deny, which would give the U.S. employer/petitioner the option of withdrawing the H-1B petition without paying the fee?”, asks the American Immigration Council in a blog post.

“Exceptions to the $100,000 payment are granted by the Secretary of Homeland Security in the extraordinarily rare circumstance” which meet a high threshold, according to a USCIS statement. The employer must demonstrate that hiring a foreigner as an H-1B worker “is in the national interest.” Also, that no American worker is available to fill the role, the foreigner does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the US, and that requiring the employer to make the payment “would significantly undermine the interests of the United States.”

At the earliest, it will be around the middle of 2026 when it will be known how the $100,000 H-1 B visa fee is being implemented, what types of education skills are sought by employers willing to pay the fee, and the total number of Indians hired on the visa, in the current fiscal year. Around the same time, there may be data showing what percentage of Indian applicants were denied renewal of their H-1B and practical training visas.

Before then, students in India will have to pay the deposit to universities in the US, where they have been admitted and plan to study. At the least, they should defer admissions by a year so that they can decide to whether to study or not in the US, based on the percentage of students with similar skills from India who found jobs in the US.

In fact, as the US administration introduces new policies on hiring Americans, a student from India has far fewer chances of finding a job in the US. Hence, students and their families in India should avoid taking on major education loans to study in the US. Securing a US degree is not a solution to dealing with low job and career prospects in India. The families seriously risk destroying their finances, including losing their homes and other assets which are put up as collateral to fund a student’s education in the US.