Talent tide turns: US H-1B visa fee shock may fuel reverse brain drain; Indian startups eye AI boost

India’s startup ecosystem is sensing an unexpected opening as the US government’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas threatens to push skilled professionals back home. Founders and investors said the move could accelerate a reverse brain drain, swelling the pool of talent in software-as-a-service, deeptech and artificial intelligence.



Manav Garg, founding partner at Together Fund, called it a “key opportunity” for Indian startups to attract highly skilled professionals, according to an ET report. While the hike spares existing H-1B holders, he noted that students and early-career workers in the US may now return in greater numbers as employers hesitate to sponsor fresh petitions. “Right now, AI is the gold rush. Many of them may launch startups or join as early employees. That is a massive talent shift,” he said, as quoted ET.




Garg argued that India could replicate the US model of pairing talent density with capital. “The US model has been to get the best talent and therefore they give a lot of capital, and the best companies come out of that. I think in the medium term, India can really turn the tide if we are able to attract the talent, provide capital to them and therefore create more companies which can be globally more competitive,” he said.



Deeptech founders said early signs of this shift are visible. Bhaktha Keshavachar, cofounder of Bengaluru-based Chara Technologies, said applications from Indian engineers with American degrees have been climbing over the past two to three years. “The unintended side effects of all these actions (assuming they will be implemented fully) will be far-reaching for the ecosystem in India in my opinion. Especially in core engineering and deep tech areas,” he said.



Researchers too are rethinking their options. Laina Emmanuel, cofounder of BrainSight AI, said her firm has seen more interest from post-doctoral researchers and PhD graduates in the US. “Now with this H-1B visa order, though this is still very early, I am hopeful that we will get more such applications from Indians looking to return. In the long term, this will be good for Indian AI and deeptech,” she said.



Industry executives said the trend could accelerate India’s pivot from being an outsourcing hub to building original products. “As a country, we need to start looking at going away from services to innovation. If not, we will be irrelevant. We need to invest in products. We are all playing in the application layers, and need to get into the deep tech, building AI models,” said Arvind Parthiban, cofounder and CEO of SuperOps.ai. “It is a wakeup call for us where we need to come and invest in deep tech, which can make a difference in a decade or two.”



The US has clarified that President Donald Trump’s order, signed on September 19, will apply only to new H-1B petitions, leaving current visa holders unaffected.