A recent flare-up over visas for tech workers revealed a rift among Republicans on immigration.   Steve Bannon, once President-elect Donald Trump’s chief strategist, termed the H-1B visa program a “total and complete scam.

US President Donald Trump’s proposed birthright citizenship policy causes uncertainty for H-1B visa holders, particularly those expecting children, as it threatens to deny citizenship to kids born in the country to temporary residents.

Donald Trump has officially taken office as the President of the United States once again, a development that has raised apprehensions among H-1B visa holders and Dreamers. Many fear a return to stricter regulations on foreign workers, a hallmark of Trump’s previous administration.

Despite his support for H-1B visas for skilled workers, Trump has benefited more from the H-2B visa program. According to CNN, most of the foreign guest workers employed by Trump’s businesses have come through the non-agricultural worker program.

The new Trump administration has launched a nationwide immigration crackdown that saw some 1,000 people arrested in a single day on Sunday, according to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement data. ICE field officers have been given a quota of 75 arrests per day, CNN reported — significantly higher than 2024 target numbers.

This change has significant implications for Indian immigrants, particularly those stuck in the decades-long employment-based green card backlog.

The scenario remains to be a cause of concern for those on student, work and other temporary visas because Trump 2.0’s interpretation of the Birthright Citizenship seeks to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the US whose parents lack legal immigration status or are present in the country on a temporary visa like H1-B.

Update: President Trump signed a number of executive orders related to immigration on Day 1. Read more. A recent flare-up over visas for tech workers revealed a rift among Republicans on immigration.

An immigrant from India who came with his wife and infant son for graduate school in 2021, he stayed after finding a tech job at a Fortune 500 company that provided him with an H-1B visa. His family has embraced the most American style of vacationing — epic road trips that have taken them to 28 states.

Vivek Ramaswamy has said that Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday will bring the "dawn of a new Golden Age."

The Indian community in the US, heavily reliant on H-1B visas, is grappling with uncertainty, anxiety, and life-altering challenges as immigration policies tighten and the green card backlog grows.