Around 15,100 Indian professionals returned home in 2025, up from 9,800 in 2024, and 7,300 had returned by June this year, according to figures from the Bengaluru staffing firm Xpheno reported by Business Standard.
About 9,100 Indian professionals moved to the U.S. over the same period, and 21,200 went in 2025 against the 15,100 who came back. The gap between departures and returns has narrowed every year since 2023.
President Donald Trump's Sept. 19, 2025 proclamation imposed a $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions filed for beneficiaries outside the U.S.
Agency guidance confirmed the charge applied only to petitions filed on or after Sept. 21 that were approved for consular processing, leaving renewals, transfers and in-country status changes untouched.
Judge Leo Sorokin of the federal district court in Boston struck the fee down on June 8, siding with 20 states and finding that the executive branch had exceeded its authority, NPR reported.
