NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: The panic was real. US work visa holders already in India were scrambling to get tickets back to the US to beat the sudden announcement by President Donald Trump of a Sept 21, 12 am EDT (9.30am IST) deadline for a $100,000 fee per H-1B worker, while there were many claims on social media about people, mostly Indian, trying frantically, but unsuccessfully, to get off flights they had already boarded at airports like San Francisco’s after the announcement. Leading travel agents said all nine nonstop flights – seven Air India and one each of United and American Airlines – supposed to leave India on Saturday and early Sunday were nearly sold out.Amid the scramble of H-1B visa holders currently in India to return to the US, a one-way economy ticket on an airline’s Delhi-New York flight leaving Saturday night was selling for Rs 1.05 lakh on Saturday afternoon.
By evening, American Airlines’ AA 293, scheduled to leave Delhi at 11.30pm and arrive in New York at 6.05am Sunday, was the only option remaining to beat the deadline. Tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft advised their H-1B and H-4 visa-holding employees to return to the US before the deadline, and those in the US to stay put for the foreseeable future, leading to Indian travel companies and airlines anticipating inbound cancellations for the coming festive and wedding seasons. One X user, Kaustav Majumdar, posted from his handle @KaustavMaj94587: “Extremely sad situation. An international flight packed with Indians (coming for Durga Puja) from Bay Area had completed boarding & was due to leave San Francisco airport, when the news about H-1B visa new rules broke. Indians aboard panicked, pleaded to get off the plane, but alas.” A spokesperson for India’s largest online travel agency, MakeMyTrip, said: “There has been a notable increase in last-minute bookings to US since Saturday morning.This increase in bookings for same-day or next-day travel is atypical for a long-haul segment.” At Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, families queued at ticket counters. “I’ve been calling airlines and agents non-stop for the past six hours,” said Arjun Varma, a software engineer. “All seats are gone or cost a fortune. It feels like the world has turned upside down. It is costing me Rs 2.7 lakh for an economy ticket and I will reach only at 2pm on September 21, so I don’t even know what I am going to do…” he added. For Suresh (name changed), the timing was devastating. He flew to India two weeks ago with his daughter to commemorate his father’s first death anniversary, leaving his wife and toddler in the US. “I am not booking flights in a hurry. I’d rather stay here than risk being deported with my daughter. This is traumatising enough without adding the stress of travel.” Corporate employees in Bengaluru expressed dread. “My manager sent me an urgent note: get on a flight immediately or face the new $100,000 visa fee,” said a data analyst from Bengaluru. “I feel trapped. How do you pack your life in less than 28 hours?” Anil Kalsi, Travel Agents Federation of India V-P, said: “All nonstops leaving for the US on Saturday and early Sunday morning have been nearly sold out. The situation is very fluid as of now. H-1B holders in the US have been advised to stay there and those here have either to beat deadline or their employers have to pay the fee. The Diwali and festive time travel to India by the affected diaspora will be impacted.” Air India currently has 80 weekly nonstops between Delhi, Mumbai & Bengaluru and New York (JFK & Newark), Chicago and San Francisco. It suspended DelhiWashington route from Sept 1. United and American have one daily each on Delhi-New York. Delta hasn’t resumed India flights after March 2020.
