Hari G.

The new $100,000 per year fee for H1B visa applicants may have some unintended side effects. Existing H1B workers might be worth holding on to, since they would be much more costly to re-hire in the future. Better to layoff US citizens since those can be rehired with no such added fees. New and rapidly growing companies may decide to expand in Canada or Mexico instead, depriving the US government of their income taxes and other auxiliary benefits of highly skilled & paid workers in the economy.

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Having helped process H-1B visas for people over the years, I can say the program has been an important factor in the growth of the U.S. technology sector. The visa enabled firms to bring in highly skilled workers from abroad during periods when there were simply not enough qualified professionals available domestically. In 2010, I started at a recruitment agency focused on telecom supporting companies like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile in their bids to rollout new antenna tech. The industry was racing to deploy AT&T/UMTS, VZW/CDMA, and TMO/HSPA+, and soon after, LTE. During the nationwide rollouts of 3G and 4G networks in the 2000s and 2010s, the U.S. faced a shortage of RF engineers in areas such as performance, design, and optimization. According to the Dept. of Labor, the number of electrical and RF engineers being trained at U.S. universities was not keeping pace with demand and by the mid-2000s, fewer than 10,000 students were graduating with advanced degrees in electrical engineering. Many of these gaps were filled by engineers who came to the U.S. through the H-1B, particularly from India and China. Without that talent, the U.S. would likely have faced delays and risked falling behind in global telecom deployment. Not just in Telecom, H-1B visas have been heavily concentrated in technology across many sectors. In 2022, about 70% of all H-1B approvals were for computer and engineering roles, and nearly two-thirds of H-1B holders worked in the technology sector. Another fun fact, over half of U.S. “unicorn” startups (valued at $1B+) had at least one immigrant founder, many of whom first arrived on H-1B visas. In the case of telecom, it enabled the U.S. to keep pace with critical infrastructure rollouts, ensuring leadership in mobile communications. Will the $100k fee slow foreign hiring, or will big tech companies just pay the premium?

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USCIS just clarified the new H-1B fee structure. This is a major update for any US companies hiring international talent. Effective September 21, 2025 Who pays the new fee ❓ → Candidates outside the U.S. without a valid H-1B visa → Initial H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025 → Change of status denials requiring consular processing Who's exempt ❓ → Valid H-1B visa holders → Approved H-1B petitions before September 21, 2025 → Renewals and extensions for current H-1B holders → Change of status applicants already in the U.S. (including F-1 to H-1B transitions) Strategic implications: For F-1 visa holders: Change of status applications filed while in the U.S. remain exempt from the new fee. However, if your change of status is denied and you must pursue consular processing, the fee applies. For international applicants: Those applying from outside the U.S. will face additional costs when pursuing initial H-1B sponsorship. For current H-1B holders: Renewals and extensions remain unaffected by the new fee structure. This is very critical to understand all US companies looking to hire international talent. At Beyond Border we help companies consider alternative US visa pathways like O-1, L-1, and EB-1/EB-2 Green Cards to hire your international talents into US. Reach out for a free consultation on your US immigration strategy. #H1Bvisa #immigration #USCIS #visafees #F1visa #changeofstatus #immigrationstrategy

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I recently helped a Senior Engineer land a critical role, when the odds were stacked against him. He is on a work visa in the US. He comes from a country where the current geopolitical situation is little tricky. And the job market is brutal. He was under pressure. He needed a win. When we started, his experience was solid, but his delivery was hurting him. His stories started with technology and ended with technology. This works for a junior engineer. It is a red flag for a Senior or Staff role. The impact was missing. We had to tear down his preparation and rebuild it. We dug into his projects to find the real substance: - How he handled disagreements with stakeholders. - How he managed difficult customers. - The trade-offs he made between quality and speed. - How he justified complexity to his managers. and many more... We drilled his System Design (HLD) not just on "what" he built, but on the "why." - Why that specific data store? - How did he handle single points of failure? - What were the architectural trade-offs? The result? He cracked a Senior Engineer role at a healthcare startup. It isn't a FAANG company. But it is a place where he creates real impact and feels valued. Most people would stop there. They would relax. He didn't. Two weeks into the new job, he sent me the message in the screenshot below. "My goal is not to be promoted. It is to act and think like a tech lead in my current role." - He isn't asking for a promotion checklist. - He isn't asking for a roadmap. - He isn't waiting for permission. He wants to build the necessary skills to think like a Tech Lead in his current role. He understands that the title is just a side effect of the competence. This is how you own your career. While others wait for a sign that they are ready, engineers like him take action. - They move fast. - They fix their gaps. - And they focus on the next important thing. If you are preparing for mid-senior/staff SDE, EM System Design, Behavioural interviews, and need help, DM me COACH.

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Silicon Valley was built on Indian talent 🇮🇳, and now it’s our turn to create that ecosystem here. Talent alone isn’t enough — India needs stronger R&D funding, better AI infrastructure, and the courage to innovate beyond just copying models. If we get the intent right, “Silicon Valley Bharat” won’t just be a dream — it can be our reality. 🚀

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If you want to perform better in system design interviews, spend time understanding these trade-offs, and your interviews will go 10x better. Because when you're building systems, every decision is a trade-off. This is where most candidates fail, they can’t explain why they made a choice. Don’t let that be you. 1. Core Concepts The fundamentals you can’t skip. – Scalability vs Performance: Handle more work or make the system faster — rarely both at the same time. – Latency vs Throughput: Quick responses vs high volume processing; real-time vs batch-focused needs. – SQL vs NoSQL Databases: Structured, reliable queries vs flexible, scalable, schema-less data storage. – Stateful vs Stateless Architecture: Systems that remember session context vs fully independent requests. 2. Foundational Trade-offs Principles that shape every architecture decision. – Vertical vs Horizontal Scaling: Upgrade one server or add more servers for distributed growth. – Consistency vs Availability (CAP Theorem): Always accurate data vs systems that never go down. – Strong vs Eventual Consistency: Immediate accuracy vs short delays for better performance and uptime. – Normalization vs Denormalization: Clean, duplicate-free storage vs faster reads with some redundancy. 3. System Optimization Patterns for performance and reliability. – Read-Through vs Write-Through Cache: Cache when requested vs write to cache and database simultaneously. – Synchronous vs Asynchronous Processing: Wait for each task vs process tasks in the background. – Batch vs Stream Processing: Process data in bulk vs handle it in real time as it arrives. – Long Polling vs WebSockets: Periodically request updates vs keep a live, two-way connection. 4. Advanced Architecture High-level decisions that define modern systems. – Monolithic vs Microservices Architecture: One unified codebase vs many smaller, independent services. – TCP vs UDP: Reliable, ordered delivery vs faster, less reliable transmission. – REST vs GraphQL: Fixed endpoints with standard responses vs flexible, efficient queries for exactly what you need. If you can talk through these trade-offs with clarity, you’ll stand out in system design interviews. It’s not just about what you build, t’s about why you built it that way. Which of these trade-offs do you still struggle with? — P.S: If you’re trying to master system design, check out my platform, layrs.me. I quit my job at Google to change the way we learn system design. Layrs will help you build, understand, and learn how system design looks in real life. From understanding these trade-offs, you can see how constraints, components, and architecture all come together to power the biggest systems in the world. 

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⚠️ No Second H-1B Lottery ⚠️ USCIS has officially reached the H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2026. The 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 master’s cap have been met. What does this mean for U.S. businesses? If you haven’t filed your petition yet, it’s too late for FY 2026. However, there is still good news for some H-1B petitioners. Petitions that are exempt from the cap will continue to be processed. This includes: → H-1B petitions for current workers who have been counted under the cap previously. → Petitions to extend the stay of current H-1B workers. → Petitions to change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers. → Petitions to allow H-1B workers to switch employers. → Petitions for H-1B workers to work in additional positions concurrently. For businesses looking to hire foreign talent, this is a reminder to plan ahead for next year’s cap season. Explore O1 as an alternative #h1bcap2026 #uscisupdates #h1bvisas #h1bexemptions #immigrationnews #businessandimmigration #foreignworkers #jinee #jineereviews #jinevisa

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Tailwind laid off 75% of their team - The irony? 1. Their product became too successful. 2. AI coding tools massively adopted Tailwind (~75M downloads/month) 3. Developers stopped visiting the docs where paid products were promoted 4. Result: ~40% drop in traffic and ~80% revenue loss 5. AI didn’t just “take jobs”. It quietly removed the human touchpoints 6. A clear example of AI reshaping entire business models, not just roles.

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🏀 Masterstroke of Creating Chaos - Do H1B hurts Indians? 🏀 OPINION DIFFERS Recent reports indicate that a new U.S. presidential proclamation has significantly altered the H-1B visa landscape, particularly impacting Indian professionals who are the largest group of beneficiaries. Here's a summary of the key "threats" and the current situation: 🌀 The New H-1B Visa Fee The most significant change is the introduction of a steep, one-time fee of $100,000 for new H-1B visa petitions. This is a massive increase from the previous fees, which typically ranged from $2,000 to $5,000. 🌀 Who it affects: This fee applies to new H-1B applications, including those submitted in the next lottery round. It does not apply to current H-1B visa holders or visa renewals. 🌀 Who pays: The fee is to be paid by the sponsoring company, not the individual applicant. 🌀 Purpose: The stated goal of this policy is to limit the program to "very highly skilled" professionals and to prevent companies from using the visa to bring in lower-paid, entry-level workers who could be replaced by American citizens. 🌀 Immediate and Potential Impacts on Indians Reduced opportunities for new applicants: The exorbitant fee makes it economically unfeasible for many companies, especially smaller firms and startups, to hire new H-1B workers. This could drastically reduce the number of new visas issued and limit the career opportunities for Indian professionals seeking to work in the U.S. 🌀 Disruption and uncertainty: The sudden announcement of the policy caused panic and confusion among Indian H-1B visa holders who were outside the U.S. at the time. Despite clarifications that the fee does not apply to existing visa holders, many rushed to return to the U.S. to avoid any potential issues, leading to chaos at airports and a surge in flight ticket prices. 🌀 Impact on Indian IT companies: Indian IT firms are major users of the H-1B visa program. The new fee is expected to significantly increase their operational costs and may force them to rethink their business models, potentially leading to a shift toward more offshore projects. 🌀 Concerns for families: The change can cause significant disruption for families. Spouses and children on H-4 visas are tied to the H-1B visa holder's status, and the uncertainty surrounding the new rules has created a great deal of anxiety. 🌀 India's Response and Potential "Silver Linings" Some experts in India see a potential silver lining in the new policy, suggesting it could lead to a "reverse brain drain." The argument is that if skilled Indian professionals cannot easily go to the U.S., they will return to India, which could boost the domestic economy and accelerate the growth of Global Capability Centers (GCCs) and the Indian technology sector as a whole. Stephen D J A #h1b #visa #visaimpact #Wednesdaytopic

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