The Trump administration recently announced that a one-time $100,000 fee would now be incurred for H-1B visa applications. The H-1B visa program was created to bring highly skilled foreign workers with “specialty occupations” into the United States. Under the new proclamation, H-1B workers cannot enter the U.S. unless they’ve made the $100,000 payment. According to Quartz, tech behemoths like Google, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft are among the companies with the most H-1B visa holders. For these tech giants, $100,000 is a drop in the bucket but for smaller companies and start-ups, this new requirement could have a detrimental effect on the ability to acquire the most skilled workers, and thus could impact the competitiveness, viability and sustainability of many American companies.
“For South Asian workers in the U.S., the rise of targeted hate in online spaces can easily translate into a more hostile work culture—one in which racist stereotypes, conspiracy theories, and slurs become normalized while workplace discrimination and harassment become more common,” shared Stop AAPI Hate co-founder Manjusha Kulkarni in an email. “Amid Trump’s broader anti-immigrant agenda—from his assault on international students to, most recently, attacks on H-1B visa applicants—the recent surge in hateful rhetoric online puts an even greater target on not just H-1B visa holders—80% of whom are South Asian—but also on South Asian communities more broadly, regardless of immigration status or citizenship.”
At the end of 2024, Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk sparked a debate over H-1B visas, with many posting xenophobic and racist comments towards Ramaswamy after he criticized American culture and justified the need for H-1B visa programs. “Based on data Stop AAPI Hate collected through Moonshot, we also saw spikes in hate after Usha Vance and Kamala Harris were thrust into the spotlight on the campaign trail. More recently, we saw a notable surge in anti-South Asian hate online after Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral primary win. In June alone, there were over 44,000 anti-South Asian slurs recorded, with sharp increases in anti-Muslim and anti-Sikh language as well,” Kulkarni explained. “India was the largest beneficiary of the H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries, while China was a distant second at 11.7%, according to government data,” reported Aditya Soni, Kristina Cooke and Jeff Mason in a recent Reuters article.
Discrimination against South Asian workers is not a new phenomenon. Following September 11, 2001, South Asians and other groups racialized as “Brown,” including Muslim, Sikh, Middle Eastern, and Arab Americans, have experienced a marked increase in state violence, including racist laws, policies, and immigration enforcement,” highlighted researchers in a 2021 Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities study. In addition to the discrimination that South Asian workers, and those perceived as South Asian, have had to endure for decades, actions like the rate hike for H-1B visa applicants contributes to rhetoric that suggests that foreigners are the cause of the American unemployment crisis, adding fuel to an already xenophobic fire.
It’s important for workplaces to understand and address the hate, vitriol and harm that continues to impact South Asian workers. Education about this issue is vital. Companies should take every opportunity available to denounce policies like this and should provide support for employees who will be directly impacted. As Kulkarni explained, these issues aren’t happening in a vacuum; the language that political leaders use and actions such as the H-1B fee increase contribute to a society that is harmful to South Asian employees. It is vital that the public sound the alarm and recognize how policies that are being marketed as beneficial to the U.S. contribute to a wider culture of hate that ends up hurting us all.