Business
H-1B: Man spent $8,000 on flights to get back to the US after visa fears
Rohan Mehta – not his real name – spent over $8,000 (£5,900) on flights in his scramble to get back to the US ahead of a deadline that would dramatically increase visa fees for some.
He had been in Nagpur, India for the anniversary of his father’s death before he cut his trip short.
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order adding a $100,000 (£74,000) fee for applicants to the visa programme for skilled foreign workers which US-based companies would have to pay.
Companies and immigration lawyers had already advised those on the H-1B visa who were outside the US to return before the order came into force Sunday.
A day later, the White House clarified it would be a one-time fee and would not apply to current visa holders, but it was too late for some.
Workers from India receive by far the most skilled visas in the programme, at more than 70% of the 85,000 issued each year.
Despite the clarification posted on X by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, concern and confusion had already spread.
The BBC spoke to many H-1B visa holders from India.
Many have been working in the US for decades.
None wanted to be identified as they were not authorised by their employers. Many refused to speak to us entirely.
Rohan Mehta, a software professional, has lived in the US with his family for 11 years but had travelled to Nagpur at the beginning of the month to see relatives commemorating his father’s death.
But on 20 September, he said he feared he would not be able to return to his home if he did not get back before the deadline.
He spent over $8,000 (£5,900) in eight hours booking and rebooking return flights to the US.
“I booked multiple options because most were cutting it very close,” he said just after he had boarded a Virgin Atlantic flight from Mumbai to John F. Kennedy International Airport.
“Even if there was a slight delay, I’d have missed the deadline.”
In its clarification, the White House said the new fee, which is more than 60 times the amount currently charged, would not be enforced until the next round of visa applications was approved.
Rohan Mehta described the last few days as “traumatic” adding he was glad his wife and daughter had not come to India with him on this trip.
“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.
“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.”
The H-1B is a work visa programme for people looking to work in the US in specialised fields and roles. Employers are able to sponsor professionals to get them into the country with a job offer required for the application.
According to government statistics, the greatest beneficiary of the programme the previous fiscal year was Amazon, followed by tech giants Tata, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google.
Another visa holder who was on holiday in Europe agreed there was confusion.
“We are yet to see how employers are thinking and how this will play out.
“From my understanding, the order is only for new H-1B visas. Immigration lawyers are still figuring it out and have advised us to go back.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X clarifying some details including that it would not be an annual fee, just a one-off.
She wrote: “Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will not be charged $100,000 to re-enter.
“H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would.”
She added that the new fee would only apply to “new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders”.
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Target faces a new boycott over ICE response as retailer presses ahead with turnaround
A major teachers’ union is calling for its members to skip Target when buying back-to-school supplies, the latest twist in a series of boycotts that have targeted the big-box retailer as its turnaround shows signs of life, CNBC has learned.
The AFT, or American Federation of Teachers, passed a resolution Thursday that calls on its 1.8 million members and others to shop at local stores and not at Target, saying the company did not respond adequately to the surge of federal immigration enforcement in the retailer’s hometown of Minneapolis this winter. Federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during the operation.
The labor union, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, plans to urge a similar resolution at AFL-CIO’s convention in Minneapolis this summer and at conventions held by other organizations, including the NAACP and LULAC, AFT President Randi Weingarten said.
Target declined to comment specifically on the AFT’s resolution but said in a statement that it has “a longstanding commitment to strengthening the communities we serve,” including donating 5% of profits since the company’s founding and offering a discount to educators as part of a teacher appreciation program.
Target’s annual sales have declined for the past three years in a row, but the company’s new CEO Michael Fiddelke laid out an ambitious plan earlier this month to refresh its stores, add more enticing merchandise and return to sales growth. The retailer said it expects net sales to rise about 2% this fiscal year compared with the prior year and anticipates sales will grow every quarter.
It is unclear if and how much the AFT’s call for a back-to-school boycott could hurt Target, which is trying to win back customers. Earlier this month, Atlanta area pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant announced the end of a yearlong boycott of the company, called Target Fast, which had started because of the company’s rollback of major diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
At a press conference, Bryant said Target has demonstrated its commitment to the Black community with investments in Black businesses and donations to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Yet other activists leading a separate boycott, including former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, have said they continue to call for shoppers to steer clear of Target.
The AFT previously supported and participated in the Target boycott over its DEI rollback.
The retailer has attributed some of its sales losses to backlash to its DEI decision, along with other factors including company missteps with merchandise, a weaker store experience and softer discretionary spending.
At an investor meeting in Minneapolis in early March, Fiddelke stressed that it’s “a new chapter for Target.” He said the company is “doing the work to build connection with new guests, deepen relationships with existing guests and earn back trust with guests we’ve disappointed.”
In a separate email to Target employees earlier this month, Fiddelke highlighted how the retailer is putting its strategy into action, including through its move to cut prices on more than 3,000 items and the opening of its 2,000th store. He said Target has made progress with winning back trust, too, noting the end of the Target Fast boycott.
He said Target has had “ongoing conversations with the organizers” of the boycott, who have “acknowledged the meaningful contributions Target has made, and will continue to make, to the Black community.”
In an interview with CNBC, Weingarten said the AFT’s boycott is focused on what she called Target’s lack of response to the surge of aggressive and violent immigration enforcement in its own backyard. Weingarten said the AFT sent a letter to Target and met with Target staff to encourage them to speak up before the union moved to pass the resolution.
“Target was negotiating with our colleagues in the civil rights community for weeks and weeks and weeks,” she said. “They could have very easily dealt with both [concerns about DEI and immigration enforcement] and they chose not to.”
She said Target is “more worried about standing with the Trump administration than the communities that made them a profitable company.”
Fiddelke joined dozens of executives from Minnesota-based corporations in co-signing a letter in late January calling for an “immediate de-escalation” in the state after the fatal shooting of Pretti. However, the letter did not name the shooting victims Pretti or Good or call out the president, his immigration policies or federal agents.
Fiddelke also shared a video message with employees that more directly acknowledged current events, but stopped short of calling for ICE agents to leave the city or for accountability in the two shooting deaths.
Weingarten described the CEOs’ letter as “insulting” and said it “basically blamed both sides.”
She said the union, which includes many teachers, can have the greatest financial impact during the back-to-school shopping season this summer and fall. By passing the resolution now, she said, the AFT can get the word out to members and “give Target enough time to come back to its senses.”
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