KOLKATA, India — Rahul Kolli was all set to head to the U.S. for a master’s degree in data science with admission to Michigan Technological University and a $42,000 student loan in place.
Then Donald Trump was elected president and promised a crackdown on work visas that he said undercut salaries for Americans. Kolli has since changed is his mind and is instead going to the University of Dublin in Ireland, where he says the total cost would be half of what he budgeted for in the U.S. and where he plans to work after his studies.
For consultant Rohit Madhav, it’s recent attacks on people of Indian ethnicity in America that made his parents cautious about his higher-education plans. They’ve asked him to widen his search beyond the U.S. — to Canada, New Zealand and local institutions.
Such concerns are driving a decline in applications at some U.S. universities as Indians reconsider what has long been their first choice for overseas study, fueled by the success of immigrants like Sun Microsystems co-Founder Vinod Khosla and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Now, safety and doubts about a path to employment are being considered instead as the Trump administration begins to reform the H-1B foreign worker visa program that’s used more by people from India than any other nationality.
“The recent spate of racists attacks on Indians is fearsome,” said Mumbai-based Madhav, who plans to pursue a management degree and fund his studies with a loan. “If I stay back in the U.S. for work, then I can repay the loan amount in two to three years. But, if I come back to India for work then it may take me seven to eight years.”
A path to employment is crucial for the many Indians who count on a mix of loans, scholarships and family savings to pay for their overseas degrees. At a record 165,918, they were the second-largest group of international students on U.S. campuses in 2015-16, according to a report from the Institute of International Education.
Foreign students in the U.S. can have up to a year of practical training, extendable by those with qualifications in certain science, technology, engineering or math fields. More than three-quarters of Indians pursue such degrees, according to IIE, giving them a better chance of finding full-time jobs and getting one of a limited number of H-1B visas issued each year.
During his presidential campaign, Trump called the H-1B a “cheap labor program.”
His administration March 31 issued guidelines requiring more information for computer programmers applying for H-1Bs to prove that the jobs require advanced knowledge and experience. Members of Congress have also introduced several bills that would force broader reform.
