H-1B visa restrictions played a decisive role in Disha Lamba’s decision to resign from a six-figure data scientist role at CVS and fly home to Gurugram, India, in May 2026, the 28-year-old told Business Insider. Family was the primary pull, but the structural constraints of the visa made the departure easier to accept.
Five years in New York, then a lottery win she did not want to keep
Lamba arrived at NYU in 2021, aged 23, to study computer engineering. She had grown up in India and had only seen New York in films, but she quickly built a life there: attending data science conferences, landing a role at CVS after meeting a senior scientist at a networking event, and earning a salary she describes as six figures.
CVS sponsored her H-1B visa, and she was informed of her lottery selection in March 2026. Business Insider confirmed she was employed at CVS. By that point, she had already decided to leave.
The pull was family. When her working day ended, there was nobody to ask how it had gone. Video calls with her mother had to be scheduled around the time difference. She feared being far away if something went wrong at home. ‘I missed my family and realized I was much happier and content around them,’ she told Business Insider.
What H-1B visa restrictions cost workers in flexibility
The visa’s mechanics were the second factor. Lamba cited the need to obtain a new stamp each time she travelled abroad and returned to the United States, the difficulty of getting a stamping appointment in India, and the three-year incremental structure that she felt would mean constant renewal management. The H-1B also constrains workers from changing employers freely, pursuing additional income streams, or taking a career break without jeopardising status.
Those constraints have tightened considerably under the Trump administration. A Presidential Proclamation issued on 19 September 2025, and effective from 21 September 2025, made USCIS H-1B approval contingent on petitioners submitting an additional $100,000 payment alongside the petition, raising the cost of sponsorship sharply.
The registration fee alone had already risen from $10 to $215 per registration beginning with the FY 2026 cap season, according to the American Immigration Council.
The lottery itself is being restructured. From the FY 2027 cap season, USCIS replaced the random draw with a wage-weighted selection system, effective 27 February 2026. Registrations for workers offered at wage level IV enter the selection pool four times; level III three times; level II twice; and level I once. According to FordHarrison, the Department of Homeland Security estimated that the shift would put the probability of selection at approximately 15.29% for a level I wage offer, rising to 30.58% at level II, 45.87% at level III, and 61.16% at level IV.
For the FY 2026 lottery, run under the old random system, Gibney reported that USCIS received eligible registrations for 336,153 unique beneficiaries and selected 118,660, a selection rate of approximately 35.3%, up from approximately 29% in FY 2025. Total eligible registrations fell 26.9% year on year, from 470,342 to 343,981, suggesting some employers pulled back on filings.
Indian nationals have historically dominated H-1B selections. Under the random lottery, they accounted for 67.6% of selected registrations, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model. The wage-weighted system reshapes who benefits, favouring higher-paid petitions regardless of nationality.
CVS, which sponsored Lamba’s visa, filed 345 H-1B Labour Condition Applications in 2025 and pays a median H-1B salary of $137,095 for sponsored positions across 36 states, according to data published by Ellis. CVS declined to comment to Business Insider.
A State Department spokesperson told Business Insider: ‘Our embassies and consulates around the world, including in India, are prioritizing thoroughly vetting each visa case above all else.’
Life without visa constraints
Back in Gurugram, a satellite city south-west of New Delhi, Lamba is living with her parents and brother and taking a two-month career break funded by savings. She has not yet secured a new role, but says she has identified nearby offices of EY, Mastercard, and American Express as potential employers.
The trade-offs are real. She misses walking the New York streets after work and looking at the skyline. She finds the pavements less walkable and the public parks less clean. But she no longer has to schedule video calls with her mother around a time-zone gap.
She can also pursue side projects, change employer, or build a startup without the visa jeopardy she would have faced in the United States. ‘I still get anxious about whether I made the right decision,’ she told Business Insider, ‘but getting to hug my parents every morning reminds me it was worth it.’
The FY 2027 lottery, running under the new wage-weighted rules, will be the first real test of whether the system reshapes who stays and who, like Lamba, concludes the trade-off no longer adds up.