Amla Srivastava

As a founder who want to be in the US for building my company, this is what it meant there is insane panic over the h1b issue, here are the updated facts you should know about - this only applies to the new applications, so if you already in h1b , you are good to go and your renewal will not be changed to 100k, it is the old pricing - if you are already a student studing with f1 visa with otp, you are under old pricing -this fee increase is not annual but is charged per approved petition. - for people who change jobs with transfer, you get the previous pricing, even if you re enter the us , there is no possible change - but if you are coming to study after september 21, aka today, when your employer applies h1b, you are in the new slab , paying 100k usd - same with people coming over directly via h1b and starting a new h1b in the usa from a new employer tldr: people already in the us, either in job or student , there is nothing to worry about, as you are in the old slab for new ones, it is hard as it gets what about founders and startups who want to be in SF for building in AI bootstraping - i want to self fund my h1b , but as a new application, we need to pay the 100k - the better one is O1, which is hard to get, and need to show abilities and funding for the startup - L1, but there is significant infra and process needed for it - or give a 800k - million dollars for EB 5 the only option i see here is get biz upto a million or more, and self sponser this might work for established players, but for startups , if there is a better option, that will help us to build

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Is CGPA really that important? How do I get into Product Management during summer placements? It’s mid-June – MBA season kickoff at IIMs! Last week, I had the opportunity to be back at my alma mater – #IIMB – to welcome the incoming PGP 2025–27 batch. During my interactions, the above questions came up again and again. Here’s my take – simple and honest: Yes, CGPA matters. Especially your Term 1 grades. Recruiters see it as a signal – not just of capability but of the effort you’re willing to put in. While clubs, events, and side projects are exciting (and important!), don’t lose sight of academics. Want to stand out for PM roles? Build something. Alongside case prep and frameworks, actually creating something gives you a huge edge. Find a real problem. Discover a use case. Prototype. Launch. Get feedback. Iterate. Even 10–20 real users who engage with your product is a compelling story to share in summer interviews. To the incoming batch – good luck and enjoy the ride! #IIMB #MBA #ProductManagement #SummerInternships #CampusToCorporate #CareerAdvice #PGP2527

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India could lose $140 billion annually if Trump’s proposed H-1B visa fee goes through. A suggested $100,000 fee on H-1B visas would effectively dismantle the program, which has been a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of high-skilled professionals—especially from India. 1. India is the world’s largest recipient of US remittances, receiving about $140 billion annually. These inflows make up nearly 30% of India’s tax revenues, supporting economic growth and currency stability. 2. About 71% of all H-1B visa holders are Indians. In 2025, ~399,395 H-1B visas were approved, of which nearly 285,000 went to Indians—primarily in the tech sector. This means nearly 300,000 Indian professionals in the US could be directly impacted. 💡 The consequences? A massive hit not just to Indian families and the Indian economy, but also to US companies that rely on top global tech talent to stay competitive. More Indian professionals may start shifting their focus toward Gulf countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where tech ecosystems are rapidly expanding and policies are becoming more talent-friendly. #H1B #USIndia #TechTalent #Immigration #Economy #FutureOfWork #UAE #SaudiArabia

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There’s too much panic around the H1B visa issue. At the end of the day, US corporations will do what they’ve always done → find ways to lower costs. • If it means using AI, they’ll do it. • If it means outsourcing to India, they’ll do it. • If it means hiring less, they’ll do that too. Most likely, it’ll be a mix of all three. And Indian IT will still have a seat at the table. As the next wave of AI products roll out, human intervention is still needed — and that’s where IT firms come in. A few realities: • Indian IT has already reduced H1B dependence. Approved visas are down 50%+ from FY15–FY23, with only ~20–50% of the NA workforce on H1Bs now. • The focus has shifted to hybrid models: automation + AI + domain expertise, with offshore delivery + local hiring. • The model is moving from labour intensive → labour + AI intensive. Yes, there may be a short-term hit. But nothing structural changes because of H1B headlines. This industry isn’t going away. It’s evolving. #AI #ITServices #SaaS #FutureOfWork #Leadership #H1B

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The $100K H1B Shockwave: Stop Celebrating, Start Worrying India. People in India seem to be the happiest folks right now. They’re writing long posts, indirectly saying: “See, our failed H1B lottery wasn’t unlucky after all. The tables have turned” and some “Now all that talent is coming back, and India will boom into a trillion-dollar economy overnight.” But here’s the uncomfortable truth: Yes, many are coming back. But hidden in that wave, mixed with the average and the mediocre, are some of the sharpest professionals India has ever exported. And they are not the same as you. What makes them different? At the client site, stakes are real: A production issue wasn’t an email chain, they were in the frontline showdown because downtime meant millions lost every hour. Product ownership, not just delivery: They’ve seen how products are conceived, engineered, tested, and launched end-to-end not just the coding or support ticket part. Boardroom battles: They’ve sat across CXOs, negotiated contracts, defended strategies, and presented roadmaps where one weak answer could kill a deal. High-stakes compliance: From FDA audits in pharma to FAA rules in aerospace, they’ve operated in environments where failure meant legal penalties, not just “rework.” Cross-cultural leadership: Managing diverse teams onsite, convincing skeptical clients, and steering multi-country rollouts gave them people skills that no offshore-only role can provide. This is creamy, hard-earned experience that cannot be replicated by sitting in an offshore delivery center. What this really means for India? These returnees are not here to start unicorns overnight. They’re shaken, stirred, and tested already. They want stability, but they also want to play at the same level they’re used to. They will compete directly in your job market. And when they do, the bar will rise instantly. Offshore consulting experience, however long, won’t stack up against decade-deep global exposure. Your chair is no longer safe. The presence of this talent alone will trigger one of the biggest existence crises in India’s white-collar workforce. So stop cheering. Stop writing essays about how “luck has turned in your favor,” or how India is becoming a multi-trillion-dollar economy overnight and a few millions will magically appear in your bank account. Because this isn’t luck. This is a talent shock heading straight for you. 1. Your only option is to reskill, upskill, and perform at a level you’ve never been forced to before. 2. Compete harder than you ever have. 3. Or get ready to watch your role vanish, not because of AI or automation, but because of your fellow skilled Indians returning This isn’t a celebration. It’s a wake-up call. The talent reshuffle of a generation has begun and it’s coming for you. #H1B #TalentShock #IndianEconomy #FutureOfWork #RealityCheck #BrainGain #VisaShock #ImmigrationPolicy #IndiaTalent #TechInIndia #IndiaGrowth #SkillUp #FutureOfWork #CareerSurvival

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H-1B Visa Applicants Face New Social Media Screening A major shift for global talent mobility: starting Dec 15, all H-1B and H-4 applicants must make their social media accounts public for review. With India dominating H-1B approvals despite shrinking applications from IT giants, this move underscores how deeply immigration is now tied to national security decisions. The screening layer will likely reshape how applicants manage their digital footprint. #H1B #AINews

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The news of a $100,000 H-1B visa renewal fee feels incredibly harsh for Indian professionals in the U.S. At first, it looks like another “shock” tactic — something extreme that eventually gets bargained down. We’ve seen this before: restrictions on AI chip sales to China that later turned into a 15% tax. But even as a proposal, this sends ripples across the industry: 🌍 Short term: Companies may accelerate offshoring. That could open more opportunities for freshers in India, and for students in U.S. universities as firms look for alternatives to costly renewals. 💻 Reality check: A large share of the U.S. tech workforce is Indian or Chinese. At places like Amazon and Uber, I noticed a pattern — the tougher the environment, the more you see immigrants. Not because it’s easier for them, but because survival and resilience are part of their journey. ⏳ Long term: America once proudly said “immigrants built this country.” Now the narrative feels closer to “protect local jobs.” If that mindset hardens, the U.S. risks losing its edge as top talent may simply choose Canada, Europe, or Asia instead. This also reminded me of something from my civics classes: India’s founding leaders debated whether to adopt a presidential system. The planning committee (led by Ambedkar and others) felt too much power in one individual could be dangerous. As a student, I believed a presidential system might have enabled faster decisions. Today, I see how that foresight may have guarded us from concentrated power — something we see tested in democracies worldwide. Whether it’s global tech policy or political systems, checks and balances matter more than speed. 👉 What do you think — will this visa fee push more roles offshore, or are we witnessing a bigger reset in how global talent and power structures are managed? My own perspective has shifted. I once believed the U.S. would always welcome immigrant talent. Today, I’m not so sure. What do you think — will this just push more roles offshore, or are we watching a bigger reset in how global tech talent is sourced? #H1B #Immigration #FutureOfWork #USIndia #TechTalent

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Twin brothers from India built an AI platform that achieved $15M in ARR in just 90 days. Is this the Shopify-for-apps moment? Here’s is the full story Emergent, founded by twin brothers Mukund (ex-Dunzo CTO) and Madhav Jha (ex-Dropbox/Amazon infra), just raised $23M Series A led by Lightspeed (total $30M to date). Their pitch? A multi-agent ‘vibe coding’ platform that turns plain English prompts into full-stack apps: frontend, backend, auth, payments, deployment, all automated. And the traction is wild: 👉 YC copy in mid-2024: 700k users, $10M ARR in 2 months. 👉 By Sept 2025: over 1M people building 2M apps and $15M ARR in 90 days. Why does it matter? Because Emergent isn’t just “no-code.” It aims to be the Shopify for apps, where anyone can generate production-ready tools, deploy them instantly, and eventually monetise them. Think jewellery chains spinning up AI-pricing apps, SMBs ditching spreadsheets for onboarding tools, even healthcare patients building pain-management solutions. But here’s the catch 👇 Retention > creation. Generating millions of apps is flashy. Keeping them live, secure, and monetised is harder. Discovery and billing flows are still in their early stages. Quality & compliance. Building real apps means adhering to PCI compliance, implementing secure authentication, and maintaining safe data practices. Emergent claims in-house testing/security agents, but independent audits will matter. Competition is fierce. Replit, Builder(dot)ai, Rocket(dot)New, Cursor: Everyone is chasing “apps from text.” Emergent’s moat must be infrastructure, reliability, and a marketplace. Unit economics. Hosting and runtime LLM costs scale with the number of active users. Using cheaper models and caching helps, but the test is focused on gross margin at scale. The opportunity: The low-code/AI app market is forecast to hit hundreds of billions by 2030+. If Emergent nails reliability, discovery, and monetisation, it could be the default platform SMBs use to generate and sell apps in days, not months. Question for you: If you could build a full-stack app from a single prompt, what would you build first? ➕ Save this post and follow Zubin Kutar ⚡ to Learn & Grow 10x with AI

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Initially, the H-1B proclamation came as a shocker. Now it’s an advantage for existing H-1B holders, particularly for product managers and director-level candidates. The U.S. will now charge $100k per new H-1B visa, and the supply of international talent is expected to drop. But the demand for experienced product managers will not. Companies still need leaders who can drive strategy, scale products, and align teams. And when they look around, the most “ready-to-hire” candidates are the ones already here on valid H-1Bs. (That's you) That scarcity is shifting the market. I’ve seen my product manager-level clients: - Command 30–40% higher compensation packages - Land interviews at companies that previously passed on them - Get promoted or hired directly into leadership tracks (even skipping levels) But none of this happens automatically. Just because the market is tilted in your favor doesn’t mean a company will hand you the role or the raise. You have to show them you’re worth the premium. And that requires a shift in how you operate. You need to: - Position yourself as the person who sets strategy, not just executes it - Step out of your immediate team and make your impact visible across the org - Walk into interviews already acting like the leader they want to hire For many of my clients, these shifts have been the difference between plateauing at “senior Product Manager” and landing $300K–$900K+ leadership roles, even in a so-called bad market. If you’re a product manager on an H-1B, this is your window to land your next-level role with a raise. -> Share this with someone who's an H-1B and feeling stuck. -> Follow me for actionable advice and take your career to the next level with $300k-$900k+ leadership roles.

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The H1B news has been devastating for many. If you’re a software developer in a product-led company and you’ve built something phenomenal — skip the H-1B. This is your EB-1 moment. You don’t need to win a Nobel. You do need a track record of real impact — think scale, innovation, leadership. ✅ No H-1B lottery ✅ Green card without employer sponsorship ✅ Faster path to permanent residency If you’ve led critical projects, shipped game-changing features, or architected systems at scale — you may already qualify. This window won’t stay open. Leverage it while it’s hot. #EB1 #immigration #softwareengineering #H1B #greencard #STEM #productled #techcareers

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