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Latest visa fee hikes in the US, featuring a significant hike to H-1B visa fees, have prompted the Indian policymakers to actively encourage skilled professionals to relocate and participate in economic growth.

An influential advisor close to the prime minister recently stated that the administration is focused on bringing back expatriates. At the same time, another council member suggested that American immigration policies have traditionally benefited the America, and the new change could potentially benefit India in wooing international professionals.

The core idea is that conditions are favorable for India to orchestrate a professional homecoming and bring back exceptional individuals in IT, medicine, and diverse cutting-edge fields who departed the country over the previous several years.

Preliminary reports suggest that a tighter immigration climate in the US is encouraging a few expatriates to think about coming back. Yet, specialists note that convincing large numbers to exit US locations for Indian centers will be difficult.

A former expatriate is among the handful of Indians who, after a long stint in the US, made a bold move and relocated to a tech hub last year.

The decision proved challenging. He left a lucrative position at Meta to plunge into the volatile world of entrepreneurship.

"I've always desired to launch a personal venture, but my legal standing in the United States hindered that opportunity," he mentioned.

After moving home, he's founded two businesses, among them a platform called B2I that supports other NRIs based in the United States "navigate the personal, financial, and work-related difficulties of relocating to India."

He added that recent adjustments in American visa rules have caused a noticeable increase in enquiries from people looking to return, and the H-1B issue could speed up this movement.

"A lot of professionals now accept that a permanent residency may never come, and requests to our service have increased – nearly increasing threefold since the new administration commenced. In merely the last six months, above two hundred expatriates have reached out to explore coming back," he said.

Further headhunters who specialize in Indian talent from American colleges support this growing trend.

"The figure of learners from Ivy League schools looking to come back to India post their degrees has grown by thirty percent lately," a recruitment CEO stated.

She continued that the uncertainty is also making top leaders "reconsider their long-term careers in the America."

"Even though a lot are still based there, we see a significant rise in CXO and experienced experts exploring India as a serious alternative," she said.

Such change in attitudes could also be aided by a huge boom in GCCs – also known as offshore operations of multinational companies in India – that have opened up promising work opportunities for expatriates.

These remote centers could become alternatives for those from the IT sector when the United States closes its doors, making GCCs "highly desirable to professionals, especially as US-based roles decrease," as per an asset manager.

However achieving repatriation on a large level will require a coordinated and substantial initiative by the government, and this is lacking, notes a former media adviser to a previous leader and expert on professional emigration.

"Leaders will have to reach out and actually identify experts – such as top-of-the-line academics, specialists, and business owners – it seeks to repatriate. That requires resources, and it must come straight from the top," he emphasized.

He noted that this method was adopted by India's first prime minister in the previous era to bring back top minds in fields like aerospace and advanced research and build organizations like the renowned IISc.

"Those individuals were motivated by a powerful nationalism. What is the motivation to relocate now?" he asked.

Conversely, there are various attractive and repelling reasons that have resulted in skilled professionals repeatedly departing the nation, he noted, and India has celebrated this movement, instead of stopping it.

The pull factors involve a increasing range of countries granting residency programs and citizenship or residency through visa options.

In fact, as the US strengthened its work permit rules, countries {such as