A growing trend has emerged among Indian tech professionals and founders to actively explore alternatives to the H-1B visa route amid rising costs, strict regulations and long delays in the US immigration system.
Indians account for more than 70% of the approximately 85,000 H-1B visas issued annually in the United States, which are primarily for specialized engineering and IT roles. This includes the annual visa quota limited to 65,000 and a separate set of 20,000 visas reserved for those with advanced degrees.
But recent structural changes and continued visa delays have led several Indian entrepreneurs and IT professionals to return to build India’s tech ecosystem or take advantage of other alternative visas such as O-1, EB-1 and EB-2 NIW.
In an interview with Indianexpress.comFredrick Ng, co-founder of Beyond Border, a Bengaluru-based immigration platform and the US, said founders and startups should map out their US mobility plan at least 10 months in advance. He added that processing by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has increased significantly.
Offering an example of an alternative to the H-1B visa, Fredrick said the normal processing time for the O-1 visa “to simply get a decision has increased to an average of 10 months, compared to 4 months at the beginning of the second Trump administration.”
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End of the H-1B era? Why Indian founders are looking elsewhere
According to Fredrick, the Trump administration needs to “relax the country-specific quota, especially in the priority/current date concepts for the EB-1A and EB-2 NIW categories, which remain very popular.”
Fredrick added that the waiting time at the consulate also acts as a hurdle after the visa is approved. “It will take another 2 or 3 months, with the expectation that the wait time will increase, for anyone who has received an O-1 visa, for example, to obtain the stamp from the US consulate of their home country, given the rule,” the Beyond Border co-founder added.
Why the O-1 visa is replacing the H-1B for top tech talent
Some notable past H-1B visa holders include Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, and Satya Nadella, CEO and chairman of Microsoft. TO Bloomberg The report, citing LinkedIn, stated that it witnessed a 40% increase in the number of technology professionals shifting their location to India in the third quarter of 2025.
Fredrick believes the O-1 visa is a “better path” for “qualified individuals” compared to the H-1B visa, as the “O-1 visa continues to have an approval rate of over 90%.” While an H-1B visa has an approval rate of 25 to 30% depending on the odds of winning the lottery.
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“Beyond Border data shows that our number of inquiries for H1-B alternatives grew three-fold quarter-over-quarter in the first quarter of 2026 so far, as we approach the new H1-B cycle with people seeking alternatives,” Frederick said. Indianexpress.com
H-1B uncertainty is reshaping tech careers
Indian tech professionals have dominated the H-1B visa program for several years and therefore almost three-quarters of visa approvals are tied to Indian job seekers or entrepreneurs. But it seems that times have changed and for an American-trained engineer to return to India does not seem like an unlikely idea.
For example, Indian entrepreneur Kunal Bahl, who completed his MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and then interned at Microsoft. This later led to an invitation from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for a dinner and, eventually, a full-time job at the tech giant. Bloomberg reported.
But reality hit in 2007 when Bahl’s H-1B visa application was rejected. Due to various restrictions and new rules introduced by the Trump administration, many Indian tech professionals are heading to Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Singapore, where immigration avenues are welcoming in nature.
