SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK — Panic, confusion and anger reigned as workers on H-1B visas from India and China were forced to abandon travel plans and rush back to the US after President Donald Trump imposed new visa fees, in line with his wide-ranging immigration crackdown.
Tech companies and banks sent urgent memos to employees, advising them to return before a deadline of 12.01am EDT on Sunday (12pm in Singapore time), and telling them not to leave the country.
A White House official on Saturday (Sept 20) clarified that the order applied only to new applicants and not holders of existing visas or those seeking renewals, addressing some of the confusion over who would be affected.
But Trump's proclamation a day before had already set off alarm bells in Silicon Valley.
Fearing they would not be allowed back once the new rule took effect, several Indian nationals at San Francisco airport said they cut short vacations.
"It is a situation where we had to choose between family and staying here," said an engineer at a large tech company whose wife had been on an Emirates flight from San Francisco to Dubai that was scheduled to depart at 5.05pm local time on Friday.
The flight was delayed by more than three hours after several Indian passengers who received news of the order or memos from their employers demanded to deplane, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity. At least five passengers were eventually allowed off, the engineer said.
A video of the incident was circulating on social media, showing a few people leaving the plane. Reuters could not independently verify the veracity of the video.
The engineer's wife, also an H-1B visa holder, chose to head to India to care for her sick mother.
"It's quite tragic. We have built a life here," he told Reuters.
On the popular Chinese social media app Rednote, people on H-1B visas shared their experiences of having to rush back to the US — in some cases just hours after landing in China or another country.
"My feelings are a mix of disappointment, sadness, and frustration," said one woman in a post with a user handle "Emily's Life in NY."
The woman said she had boarded a United Airlines flight from New York to Paris, and it started taxiing, but after some back-and-forth with the airline the captain agreed to return to the gate to let her off the aircraft.
Feeling what she described to Reuters as "shaken," she cancelled her trip to France, abandoning plans with friends, including some who were flying in from China, after she received a letter from her company's lawyers asking employees abroad to return to the US
Companies including Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs were among those that sent urgent emails to their employees with travel advisories.
Amazon gave guidance to staff on Saturday, after clarity emerged on who would be impacted, that no action was required for staff currently holding H-1B visas, according to a source who had viewed an internal portal. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside business hours.
As of Sunday, some of the panic had dissipated, said IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn, on CBS's "Face the Nation" programme.
"I think it caused a panic over the weekend because people weren't sure what was going on with the existing H-1B visas," said Cohn. "It's been cleaned up over the weekend, so at this point, there's not a panic in the system."
Cohn praised the move as ultimately good for the economy.
"I actually think this is a good idea, if you understand the H-1B visa programme in the United States," Cohn said. "Historically, it has been a lottery system."
The new policy also drew support from Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings, who said in a social media post it will eliminate the need for the lottery and provide more certainty for those who get the H-1B visas.
Netflix was not immediately available for comment.
Since taking office in January, Trump has kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown, including moves to limit some forms of legal immigration.
This step to reshape the H-1B visa programme represents his administration's most visible effort yet to rework temporary employment visas and underscores what critics have said is a protectionist agenda.
It is a U-turn from Trump's earlier stance when he sided with one-time ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backed the programme for foreign tech workers even though it was opposed by some of his supporters.
Trump administration officials say the visa allows companies to suppress wages, and curbing it opens more jobs for US tech workers. Supporters of the programme argue that it brings in highly skilled workers essential to filling talent gaps and keeping firms competitive.
In the hours following Trump's proclamation, social media was flooded with debate on the scope of the order and dismay at what many saw as a move that dimmed the United States' allure as a work destination.
An anonymous user on Rednote said that their life was like that of an "H-1B slave." The person cut short a holiday in Tokyo to rush back to the US, describing it as "a real-life 'Fast & Furious' return to the US," a reference to the hit Hollywood film series about street racing.
Trump's H-1B proclamation read: "Some employers, using practices now widely adopted by entire sectors, have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labour market for American citizens."
The secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, could exempt petitioners from the fee at her discretion, the proclamation said.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday that companies would have to pay US$100,000 (S$128,540) per year for H-1B worker visas.
However, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X on Saturday that this was not an annual fee, only a one-time fee that applied to each petition.
A Nvidia engineer, who has lived in the US for 10 years, told Reuters at the San Francisco airport that he had been vacationing in Japan with his wife and infant when he rushed to reschedule his return flight after hearing the news.
"It feels surreal," he said. "Everything is changing in an instant."
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