Indians rethinking ‘NRI dream’ weddings: $100k H-1B fee sparks panic in India’s marriage market 

The U.S. administration’s decision to impose a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications has sent ripples far beyond Silicon Valley boardrooms. In India’s marriage market, where a Non-Resident Indian groom once symbolised success and stability, the mood has shifted. Families who once sought transnational matches are now wary, fearing that changing U.S. immigration rules could pull the ground from under their children’s feet.

Nineteen-year-old medical student Sidhi Sharma from Haryana had long imagined a life in the United States. But recent headlines about President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown changed her mind. “I had always dreamed of settling in the U.S. after marriage,” she told Reuters. “Trump has shut the door for me.”

According to matchmakers and academics, tighter U.S. immigration policies, particularly those targeting the H-1B skilled-worker visa, are making Indian families less inclined to marry their children to citizens based in the U.S. “Immigration policies may be written in Washington, but its ripple effects are seen at dinner tables of Indian families when they're talking about marriages,” said Anuradha Gupta, founder of bespoke matchmaking service Vows For Eternity.

There is no official government data on marriages between Indian citizens at home and abroad, but the shift is being widely felt.

From prized prospects to uncertain matches

The United States hosts the world’s largest Indian diaspora, with about 2.1 million Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), long considered top marriage prospects. But that image is rapidly changing. Since returning to office in January, Trump has launched a sweeping immigration overhaul, curbing both temporary and permanent pathways to residence. His H-1B visa reforms, which hit Indians particularly hard since they accounted for 71% of H-1B holders last year, have shaken confidence across the subcontinent.

“For many Indians, marrying a compatriot living in the U.S. was a ticket to financial security,” Gupta noted. Families saw such unions as a gateway to prosperity, bolstered by the tradition of remittances and overseas support.

That perception is fading fast. About 75% of H-1B visas issued to Indian citizens in 2024 went to men, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. But even those figures no longer guarantee stability.

“Up until last year, there was a lot of demand and craze for NRI suitors and men settled abroad,” said Vanaja Rao, managing director of Vanaja Rao Quick Marriages. “We’ve started to see a slowdown ever since Trump took over, and it intensified in the last six months. And of course, after the recent chaos and curbs on H-1B, there’s more panic.” Rao, who has run her business for nearly five decades, says some families are now delaying weddings altogether.

“There is a lot of uncertainty in terms of immigration in general and not just H-1B, it has only escalated in the past year,” said a 26-year-old Indian based in Atlanta, Georgia, who requested anonymity. He personally knows of three weddings postponed due to visa worries.

The effect is now visible beyond matchmaking circles. There were 422,335 Indian students in the U.S. in 2024, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but many are reassessing the long-held American Dream.

Visa status becomes a deal-maker or breaker

Some matchmaking services are adapting to this new reality. Knot.dating, a premium matchmaking app, recently introduced a “U.S. visa filter” to let families screen potential partners by visa status. “Families want to see the visa status of the suitor or match from abroad before proceeding further,” said Jasveer Singh, the company’s co-founder and CEO.

Since launching the feature in September, around 1,000 NRIs have signed up, 60% on H-1B visas and the rest with green cards or other permits. Roughly 81% of these users are men. The platform also requires male users to earn at least ₹5 million ($56,332) a year, though no income bar exists for women.

(With inputs from Reuters)