India-US flight fares skyrocketing after Trump's H-1B visa fee shock? Netizens says ticket cost shooting over ₹1 Lakh

H-1B visa fee hike: US President Donald Trump's shocking move to slapping a $100,000 visa fee had already triggered a wave of panic, pushing tech giants on the edge. Now, social media is abuzz with how flight prices are skyrocketing following the news.

Multiple social media users posted screenshots of flight fares from India to US, showing the charges surged up to ₹1 lakh – and in some cases — well beyond that.

LiveMint's search for flight fares from Delhi, Mumbai to various US cities revealed flight fares ranging from ₹50,000 to around ₹1 lakh. However majority of those flights are scheduled to land in the US on September 22 – a day after the September 21 deadline.

Another X user also posted a similar screenshot, claiming that the prices of price of “one-way flights to USA skyrocketed after the H-1B visa news."

The claims started doing the rounds after Microsoft, Meta, other tech giants asked its workers with the H-1B and H-4 visa to either remain in the US for time being, or return by the September 21 deadline.

Have flight fares surged?

According to LiveMint's search, a one way flight from New Delhi to San Francisco departing on September 20, will cost around ₹54,922 minimum.

For flights from Mumbai to San Francisco, the fares varied from ₹41,033 to ₹135,548.

All the flights, also land in US after the September 21 deadline.

“H-1B visa holders who are out of the US on business or vacation will get stranded unless they get in before midnight September 21. H-1Bs still in India may have already missed the deadline as there is no way a direct flight from India will get in time,” eminent New York-based immigration attorney Cyrus Mehta said in a post on X on Saturday.

What is the September 21 deadline?

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Friday that restricts the entry into the United States of nonimmigrants working in a “speciality occupation” unless their H-1B petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000. The new rule is effective from September 21.

Will Trump admin extend the deadline?

So far, neither Donald Trump nor the White House have announced any extension to the Sunday, 21 September 2025 deadline for the H-1B visa fee hike.

India said that full implications of the United States increasing H-1B visa fee to a staggering USD 100,000 annually are being studied by all concerned.