4 min readMar 10, 2026 11:24 PM IST First published on: Mar 10, 2026 at 10:55 PM IST

But the recent structural changes and ongoing visa backlogs has prompted several Indian entrepreneurs and IT professionals to either return to build in India’s tech ecosystem or leverage other alternative visas like O-1, EB-1 and EB-2 NIW.

Indian tech professionals have dominated the H-1B visa programme for several years and hence almost three-quarters of the visa approval is linked to Indian job seekers. (AI Generated Image)

In an interview with Indianexpress.com, Fredrick Ng, co-founder of Beyond Border, a Bengaluru and US-based immigration platform, said founders and startups should chart out their US mobility plan at least 10 months ahead of time. He added that processing by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have climbed up significantly.

Providing an example of an alternative to H-1B visa, Fredrick said the normal processing time for O-1 visa “to just get a decision has gone up to median 10 months, as opposed to 4 months at the start of Trump’s 2nd administration.”

End of H-1B Era? Why Indian founders are looking elsewhere

According to Fredrick, the Trump administration needs to “relax country specific quota – especially on priority / current date concepts for EB-1A and EB-2 NIW categories which remain highly popular.”

Fredrick added that consulate wait time also acts as a hindrance after the visa gets approved. “It will take another 2-3 months, with expectation of waiting time growing, for anyone who received an O-1 visa for example to get a home country US consulate stamping given the rule,” the Beyond Border co-founder added.

Why O-1 visa is replacing H-1B for top tech talent

Some significant H-1B visa holders in the past include Sundar Pichai, Google and Alphabet’s CEO and Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO and Chairman. A Bloomberg report, quoting LinkedIn, stated that it witnessed a 40% increase in tech professionals changing their location to India in the third quarter of 2025.

Fredrick believes O-1 to be a “better path” for “qualified individuals” in comparison to H-1B visa as the “O-1 visa continues to be up in the 90% and above approval rate.” Whereas an H-1B visa has a 25-30% approval rate depending on the odds of winning a lottery.

“Beyond Border data shows that our number of enquiries for H1-B alternatives grew 3x quarter over quarter in Q1 2026 so far, as we edge towards the new H1-B cycle with people looking for alternatives,” Frederick told Indianexpress.com

H-1B uncertainty reshaping tech careers

Indian tech professionals have dominated the H-1B visa programme for several years and hence almost three-quarters of the visa approval is linked to Indian job seekers or entrepreneurs. But it looks like the times have changed and a US-educated engineer returning to India doesn’t seem an improbable idea.

For example, Indian entrepreneur Kunal Bahl, who completed his MBA at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and followed it by an internship at Microsoft. It later led to an invitation by Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates for a dinner and eventually to a full-time job at the tech giant, Bloomberg reported.

But reality struck 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 pivoting to Canada, the UK, Germany, and Singapore where immigration pathways are welcoming in nature.