Last week the United States government announced that workers living in the country on an H1-B visa will have to pay a whopping $100,000 fee to be issued a visa going forward.
The change, which in terms of numbers will mostly affect skilled workers from India, comes as the latest of many measures designed to limit immigration to the US brought in by the Trump administration.
While Germany, under the leadership of Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU), has also brought forward a number of measures to limit immigration this year, the government maintains its goal of encouraging skilled worker immigration.
As the dream of moving to the US for work becomes increasingly out of reach for most skilled workers in India, Germany could prove to be well positioned to attract more of the skilled workers it needs.
READ ALSO: Germany’s skilled labour shortage intensifies across industries
What’s changed in the US?
In the US, H-1B visas allow companies to sponsor foreign workers with specialised skills – such as scientists, engineers, and computer programmers – to work in the US, initially for three years but extendable to six.
Previously the US awarded around 85,000 H-1B visas per year on a lottery system, with India accounting for around three-quarters of the recipients. The fees to obtain an H1-B ranged from $460 to $1,500, depending on the size of the company sponsoring the visa, until now.
Friday’s changes to the skilled worker visa scheme, which included a new $100,000 fee, rattled the tech industry and left US companies scrambling to figure out the implications.
For many would-be skilled worker immigrants to the US, the prospect of paying even a portion of that fee has immediately put the prospect of moving to the US out of reach.
Indian aerospace engineering student Sudhanva Kashyap, a 21-year-old from the southern Indian tech hub of Bengaluru, had pictured himself going to a top-tier American university, with Stanford his goal.
Kashyap told AFP, “Back when the fee was lower, it was still something that you could pin hopes on, it would be easier to convert the student visa to an H-1B.”
“I am very disappointed…my main dream is derailed as things stand now,” he added.
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What are the requirements to come to Germany?
At the beginning of this year Germany more than quadrupled the number of skilled worker visas that are specifically available to Indian citizens – from 20,000 to 90,000 annually.
In 2023, Germany issued a total of 79,000 visas for all nationalities under the Skilled Immigration Act.
Initiated by the former traffic light coalition, the government’s recent efforts to lure more skilled workers to Germany included meeting with Indian leaders specifically and opening up more visas for workers and students hoping to come to Germany for employment.
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The requirements for a residence permit to take up employment in Germany vary depending on your qualifications and the kind of employment you are seeking. For job-seekers with a foreign degree and/or two years of work experience, for example, among the primary requirements is a binding offer of employment that meets a minimum salary requirement (set at €43,470 gross for 2025).
People without a job offer in-hand could potentially enter the country on an Opportunity Card and then start their job search. If you aren’t sure which residence permit you need, you can use this visa-navigator tool by Germany’s Foreign Office.
Crucially, the fees to apply for a German visa are significantly less than those for US visas (and nowhere near the $100,000 that H1-B hopefuls can expect going forward.)
The standard fee for a German employment visa for adults is €75 currently. This is a non-refundable fee paid up front before your application has been decided on.
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Then, after you arrive in the country you need to convert your visa into a residence permit which costs €100 for a stay of up to one year or €110 for a stay of more than a year.
READ ALSO: Expert tips for your next appointment at a German immigration office
In total this puts the cost of a German employment visa at around €175 in standard cases, or just over 18,000 Indian rupees at the time of writing.
A growing Indian-German community
Currently Indians make up about 0.2 percent of Germany’s population, with around 260,000 living in the country.
According to information from Germany’s statistical office (Destatis), people of Indian origin make-up the second largest ethnic group from South, East or Central Asia; second to nationals from Afghanistan.
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In particular, in recent years large numbers of Indian Expats have moved to large cities like Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, and Frankfurt to work in information technology positions.
Indians also make up the largest group of international students enrolled in German universities. As of the winter semester of 2022-23, the number of Indian students in Germany was 42,997, which represented 26 percent more than the year before.