A US-based Indian man spent more than $8,000 (approximately BD3,000) on flights in a scramble to get back to the US after a new visa fee was announced, a move he later discovered would not affect him.
Rohan Mehta—an alias—was in Nagpur, India, for the anniversary of his father’s death when US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday imposing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visas.
Amid the confusion surrounding the order, tech companies and banks sent urgent memos to employees, advising them to return before a deadline of 12:01 a.m. EDT on Sunday and telling them not to leave the country.
The White House later clarified that it would be a one-time fee and would not apply to current visa holders, but the clarification was a day too late for some.
Mehta, a software professional who has lived in the US with his family for 11 years, feared he would not be able to return home if he did not get back before the deadline. In a desperate attempt, he spent over $8,000 in eight hours, booking and rebooking return flights to the US.
"I booked multiple options because most were cutting it very close," he told the BBC. "Even if there was a slight delay, I'd have missed the deadline."
Mehta only found out later that he would not be affected by the new order, describing the ordeal as “traumatic.”
"I'm regretting the choices I've made in life. I gave the prime of my youth to working for this country [the US] and now I feel like I'm not wanted,” he said. "My daughter has spent her entire life in the US. I'm not sure how I'll uproot my life from there and start all over in India," he added.
The H-1B program offers 65,000 visas annually to employers bringing in temporary foreign workers in specialised fields, with another 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees. Nearly all the visa fees are required to be paid by the employers, and H-1B visas are approved for a period of three to six years.
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