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If my parents had to pay $100K, I wouldn’t be here: Indian American on H-1B fee
Simi Shah highlighted that the visa fee hike will “exacerbate the reverse brain drain of highly skilled immigrants from America.
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Malvika Choudhary - Mon, 22, Sep 2025
- 16:59 EDT
- 40
Simi Shah / LinkedIn (Simi Shah)
Simi Shah, an Indian American entrepreneur and strategist, sharply criticized the $100,000 H-1B visa fee levied by President Donald Trump's administration, cautioning that it could potentially undermine the American Dream for immigrant families.
Reflecting on her family’s journey, the second-generation immigrant said her parents were able to stay in the United States, build businesses, create jobs, and integrate into civic life because pathways to citizenship were once more attainable.
Also Read: Reverse brain drain: governments hope to lure talent after US visa change
“If that opportunity had come with a $100K sticker price, I wouldn’t be writing this today,” Shah, who founded the media agency South Asian Trailblazers wrote in a LinkedIn post.
“They started companies, paid taxes, created jobs. They bought homes, volunteered at schools, voted in elections. They invested their lives in America because they believed in the American Dream — and America believed back,” her post read.
Shah also warned that the policy could potentially accelerate a "reverse brain drain" of highly skilled professionals back to India and other emerging economies, emphasizing the impact of the fee hike.
“All this does is exacerbate the reverse brain drain of highly skilled, invaluable people. Talent will boomerang back to rising economies like India,” she wrote. “Pair that with the global trade war we’re waging? We’re willingly shifting the global balance of power away from the U.S.”
A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Shah began her career in private equity and later worked at a B2B media startup. She went on to serve as Chief of Staff to former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi before launching her media and executive advisory venture. She holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from the Wharton School.
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