They planned their futures around America. The past 12 months have left them rethinking that dream.

Ananya Joshi loved her life in Chicago.

After moving from India for a master's degree in biotechnology at Northwestern University, she landed a $75,000-a-year job as a scientist at a lab-grown meat startup in 2024. She was doing research, living in an affordable apartment in a suburb, and road-tripping with friends on weekends.

But her life in the US had an expiration date. Joshi's company said it couldn't sponsor her for an H-1B visa. Her Optional Practical Training, or OPT — a work authorization for foreign students — was set to expire in July 2025.

She had two choices: She could take a job in Germany and leave behind her partner and life in the US, or race to find a new sponsor. She took the offer and moved in January.

"Having gone through so much turbulence, I really needed the stability to calm down," Joshi, 26, told Business Insider.

Her decision reflects a broader uncertainty that international graduates and foreign workers are facing as they try to build careers in the US while navigating increasingly complex and turbulent immigration policies.

The US has long been a magnet for highly skilled workers from around the world, and the H-1B visa has been a gateway to better career opportunities since its introduction in the Immigration Act of 1990. There are about 700,000 people living and working in the US on H-1B visas, according to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy.

Securing one of these visas has never been easy. Demand far exceeds supply. The US issues 85,000 new H-1Bs each year. For fiscal year 2026, US Citizenship and Immigration Services received nearly 344,000 eligible registrations.

There's been an additional layer of uncertainty in the process since the Trump administration began its crackdown on H-1B visas a year ago this month.

Joshi is one of more than 20 international graduates and foreign workers Business Insider interviewed over the past year about whether — and how — to build careers in the US amid growing uncertainty over immigration policy.

This is the first of weekly installments of "H-1B Fallout: 1 Year Later," a series exploring how foreign workers are navigating the realities, challenges, and trade-offs of advancing their careers amid a rapidly changing US immigration landscape. The administration has said its changes are intended to curb misuse of the H-1B program and protect American workers from being displaced by lower-paid foreign labor.

A year of immigration chaos

Sonu, a software engineer at a Silicon Valley-based tech company, who got his H-1B visa in 2019, still remembers where he was on September 20, 2025.

The Indian national and his wife had saved a month of parental leave for a five-week trip to Asia. They planned to spend a week in Bali and Singapore, followed by four weeks at home in New Delhi. It would be Sonu's first trip back since his first daughter's birth. He was excited to show her off to his parents.

On the morning of the family's flight to New Delhi, his phone rang at 7 a.m. A friend in the US was calling to warn him: President Donald Trump had just signed an executive order requiring companies to pay a $100,000 fee for each H-1B application. The order, which was set to take effect on September 21, would prevent H-1B workers from returning to the US unless their employer paid the fee.

Sonu, who asked to be identified by only his first name, told Business Insider he struggled to believe what he was hearing.

"But I was with my family, and I couldn't risk it," he said.

Sonu spent more than $7,000 on tickets for the earliest flight to San Francisco.

About 24 hours later, when the family landed in San Francisco, Sonu learned that the White House had clarified the rule would apply only to new H-1B applicants.

Trump's introduction of the $100,0000 rule last September prompted companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Meta, to issue urgent travel guidance to H-1B employees and left some workers questioning whether they could travel freely or take up jobs in the US.

Nine months later, in June, a federal judge struck down the fee. In August, the administration launched a fresh effort to clamp down on H-1B applications, proposing a $103,265 fee for most new H-1B petitions.

"There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force," White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Business Insider earlier this month. Bis said the proposed $100,000 fee is intended to deter companies from "spamming the system" and prioritize employers with a real need for top-tier overseas talent.

Immigration policy has been changing quickly. As of this story's publication date, courts have blocked the proposed $100,000 fee; it would require congressional authorization to take effect. Even so, the rapid shifts have left H-1B holders, hopefuls, and employers in a vulnerable position. Many of the people Business Insider spoke to expressed fears about making themselves visible at a time when anti-immigration sentiment is rising within the administration.

Jeanne Batalova, a senior policy analyst at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said the US's current outflow of foreign talent is unlike anything she has seen in more than 20 years studying immigration trends.

The Trump administration, she said, "really, really used the administrative power to restrict the pathways for international students and H-1B workers."

The government's evolving stance has had an impact on both the employee and employer levels. On the employee level, some Big Tech visa holders told Business Insider earlier this year that fears of being laid off had prompted them to leave the industry.

On the employer level, total certified H-1B applications in the first nine months of the fiscal year were down 10% compared to the same period last year, according to a Business Insider analysis of federal data.

Policy volatility surrounding the proposed H-1B fee and increased scrutiny of petitions may be discouraging employers from initiating new sponsorships, said Nina Thekdi, an immigration lawyer at Michigan-based Varnum LLP. "There may also be some pullback on renewals tied to layoffs," she said.

There is evidence suggesting a growing share of highly skilled workers are building their careers outside of the US.

The share of non-American physics PhDs who left the US after completing their degrees rose from 16% in the 2023-24 academic year to 29% in 2024-25, according to an August report from the American Institute of Physics, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing and promoting the physical sciences.

A key pipeline for future international talent is also eroding. In the 2025-26 academic year, nearly 60% of US universities reported declines in international student applications, according to a July report from the Institute of International Education.

America's got talent, but other countries want it, too

Some international students and foreign workers are seeking opportunities beyond US borders.

Batalova said workers are not "sitting and waiting," but "proactively exploring opportunities and going to other places."

Sunjana Ramana, a 27-year-old Indian national, failed to secure an H-1B visa three times. In February, she decided to move to the UK.

Ramana, who has a master's degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University, secured the UK's high-potential visa, a work permit granted to graduates of top global universities that is not tied to a single employer. She took the opportunity to try her hand at entrepreneurship, launching an AI business while participating in a startup-building program run by venture capital firm Antler.

"I want to go back and tell my younger self not to associate the 'dream' with America, because it doesn't matter where you are," she said in May. "The dream should be aligned with you and your goals."

Later that month, she landed a product-management role at Wise, the London-based financial-technology company.

Some countries, including Germany, the UK, the UAE, and Canada, are actively trying to attract highly skilled workers from the US with easier immigration pathways, faster routes to permanent residency, and more predictable visa systems, said Chris Eldridge, CEO for North America at Robert Walters, a recruitment firm operating in 29 markets.

For some workers, home is calling

India and China are the "biggest beneficiaries" of the outward flow of skilled workers from the US, said David Bier, the director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Workers born in India and China make up the largest shares of H-1B program participants. In fiscal year 2025, India-born workers accounted for about 70% of approved H-1B beneficiaries, followed by those born in China at 12%, according to USCIS.

"Many of the people who are leaving are from India and China," Bier said. "That's the most likely destination for them to go back, to their home countries."

Vivienne Yang, a Taiwanese professional who worked at a New York-based adtech company, took the homebound route after learning she'd been laid off.

She was vacationing in Japan in 2024 when she learned about the layoff and spent much of the trip consulting immigration and labor lawyers.

Yang went back to New York City and switched from an H-1B to a tourist visa, giving her more time to look for work. After more than 20 unsuccessful job interviews and a rejected student visa application, she returned to Taiwan at the end of last year.

Now, she said, one of the biggest changes is no longer having to structure her life around her immigration status.

"It's so weird not having to worry about a visa," she said. "Now I can get any random gig without worrying: 'Oh, if I want to do this, what kind of visa do I need to get?'"

There are trade-offs. She has moved back in with her parents, sister, and grandmother, which means following house rules she has outgrown. She sleeps on a portable bed in a storage room without air conditioning and said she often feels as if her life has been downgraded.

Despite the upheaval, demand for H-1B visas remains high. On July 17, USCIS said it had already received enough petitions to reach the 85,000 H-1B cap for fiscal year 2027.

"The US remains one of the most attractive markets for top-tier professionals," Eldridge from Robert Walters said.

Still, the growing uncertainty surrounding the sponsorship of H-1B workers could have long-term implications for America's ability to compete for global talent.

Foreign-born workers made up 22% of the US's STEM workforce in 2024, according to the National Science Foundation. The share was higher among the most educated science and engineering workers: In 2023, 39% of those with master's degrees and 46% of those with doctorates were born outside the US.

Batalova, the analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, said foreign-born workers have played an important role in American innovation and entrepreneurship. But the pathways that have traditionally connected international talent with US research facilities, universities, and companies are narrowing — a trend she described as the "dismantling of the international talent pipeline."

David Brown, the Americas CEO of global recruitment firm Hays, said the shift particularly affects industries such as AI, advanced technology, and engineering, "where a small number of exceptional people can make a significant difference."

"The bigger risk for US employers is not a mass departure," Brown said. "It is losing a relatively small number of highly valuable people in the skill areas where supply is already extremely tight."

Rebuilding that pipeline may not be as simple as a change in administration, Bier said. Policies can take time to reverse, and workers may be reluctant to make long-term plans in the US without confidence that the rules will not change again.

"It's not a light switch," he said. "You've got to give people some clear evidence that you're committed to a more open and welcoming policy."

Joshi said that while she was in the US, she had envisioned a set path: work on an H-1B, apply for her green card, and settle in the country. Having to leave has made her more open-minded about other career possibilities.

Her heart is still stateside.

"I regret moving to the US because I've seen what that country offers, and nothing else will be enough," she said.

We want to hear from you: How have the past 12 months of H-1B changes affected your career or your workplace? Let us know in the comments.

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