The H-1B visa is a work visa that’s valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years. The program allows US companies to maintain competitiveness and grow their business, creating more jobs in the US.

But US President Trump increased the visa fees from approximately 2500-5000 dollars to 100,000 dollars setting shock waves throughout H1B aspirants in India. This is set to disproportionately impact skilled professionals from India, who have consistently accounted for the majority of approved applications in recent years, threatening to upend the career paths of hundreds of thousands of individuals and, more importantly, disrupt the business models of tech firms reliant on global talent.

For decades, the H-1B visa has served as a gateway for some of India’s brightest minds to enter the US workforce, acting as a crucial launchpad for building long-term careers in America.

The most striking evidence of this success is visible across the top leadership of today’s tech giants: Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Alphabet’s (Google’s) Sundar Pichai, IBM’s Arvind Krishna, and Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen were all born in India and earned degrees from American universities, after earning basic engineering degrees from Indian universities.

ISKCON too has benefitted from the Indian diaspora which accounts for accepting a sizeable chunk of responsibility in maintaining as well as managing its temples and farm communities in the USA. It is high time to formulate strategies to address this situation.

When Srila Prabhupada began the movement in New York in 1966, he had almost zero support from any Indian nationals, whether from India or those settled in America. He single-handedly cultivated his followers, who were mostly from the counter-culture from the East Coast or hippies from the West Coast. It is remarkable what Srila Prabhupada accomplished in the first three to four years before he ventured back to India.

In fact, there is a narrative that Srila Prabhupada protested to Lord Sri Krishna as to why is He dragging him back to India, when the country had shown zero interest in the message of Sri Krishna. But Srila Prabhupada did come back and started major projects in India with Sridhama Mayapur, Vrindavan, Mumbai and Hyderabad among the notable ones.

While in India he began to exhort Indians by saying, “If you think that you want to understand through science and philosophy, we have got three dozen books. Anyway, you come. That is our appeal. Don’t take this movement neglectfully. It is a very serious movement, this Krishna consciousness movement, and it is the duty for all Indians, as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted: bharata-bhumite haila manushya-janma yara / janma sarthaka kari’ kara para-upakara (Cc. Adi 9.41): “One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India [Bharata-varsha] should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people.”

It is to the great credit of Indians who settled in America to have begun exploring their spiritual roots through the ISKCON movement. Indeed, there are many examples of families who admit that they did not visit any temple while in India, but now they are committed members of their local congregation. They attest to the fact that Srila Prabhupada’s presentation of India’s original culture has made all the difference in their lives.

In fact, echoing the words of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Srila Prabhupada emphasized this urgency. He proclaimed: “There is a great need for this movement. We want hundreds and thousands of preachers to go outside India and preach this religion. And there are customers ready. Wherever we are opening our branches, it appears as if they are awaiting our arrival. Immediately they take it up. So, there is very great opportunity.”

Now, we are analyzing the situation as Srila Prabhupada faced it in the early to late 1970’s. This was the situation at that time, so see it in proper perspective. He further says to Indians: “You cannot compete with the Western countries by your technology. However, you may make some sewing machine or cycle or Ambassador car. They are hundred years ahead. You cannot make any competition by machine. If you can give them anything and glorify your country, then this is this movement, Krishna consciousness. Then they will admit that you have something worthwhile.

Paying heed to the clarion call of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Indians have to keep the message of preaching Bhagavad-gita in the forefront of their life, and ISKCON managers in the USA have to re-focus on their efforts to use the existing contingent of Indians settled there to attract the local population as was done by Srila Prabhupada himself. That task is by no means easy, but at the present moment following Srila Prabhupada’s personal example seems to be the best foot forward.