‘They didn’t even look at my résumé’: Indian student on F-1 visa recounts US job hunt struggles

An Indian doctoral student’s job search in the United States came to an abrupt halt over a single question, one she says recruiters asked before even glancing at her résumé.“Are you a US citizen?” According to a report by The New York Times, that question has become a recurring roadblock for many Indian students studying in the US on F-1 visas, despite decades of Indian immigrants being held up as one of America’s most successful communities. Sai Sushma Pasupuleti, a high-achieving student from Hyderabad, moved to the University of Houston in 2023 to pursue a PhD in electrical engineering. Like many international students, she arrived with a straightforward plan: complete her studies, secure a job and build a life in the United States.That plan began to unravel during a recent job fair. Pasupuleti told The New York Times that she went from booth to booth, résumé in hand. Almost every recruiter asked the same thing. “Are you a US citizen?” When she said no, the interaction ended. “They didn’t even look at my résumé,” she told the paper.Before choosing the US, Pasupuleti had applied to universities in Germany, Britain and America. Germany didn’t work out due to a lack of scholarship funding. She received offers from both the UK and the US, but America stood apart.“A degree from the US makes you a leader,” she said. “People see it as the best.”Now, she is reconsidering that belief. Even if her research leads to a startup, she could still struggle to secure a work visa. Europe, she says, might offer more stability.She says she does not regret coming to the US. What she cannot understand is why a country that invests heavily in educating international students appears increasingly reluctant to let them stay.Pasupuleti’s experience reflects a broader pattern. Indians became the largest group of international students in the US last year. This year, that number dropped by 44 percent, a sharp fall that, according to The New York Times, points to deeper anxieties beyond policy changes under a possible “Trump 2.0” environment.Although many Indian students are exempt from the newly increased $100,000 H-1B fee when applying for a change of status within the country, visa uncertainty is only part of the problem. Students and professionals alike report a growing sense of hostility.Online spaces, in particular, have seen a rise in racist slurs, religious attacks and claims that Indians cheat the system or “steal” American jobs.The shift is striking when set against historical data cited by The New York Times. Since US immigration laws changed in 1965, hundreds of thousands of Indians have migrated to the country. Indian Americans, on average, earn more than white Americans. Nearly three-quarters hold a college degree, and many work in medicine, technology, finance and engineering, often clustered in cities such as Houston, New York and Silicon Valley.Indian Americans have led companies including Google, Microsoft and Pepsi. Some have won Nobel Prizes. Politically, they have become an influential presence across both major parties, with three major presidential candidates in the 2024 election cycle having Indian roots.An immigration expert quoted by The New York Times said Indian Americans came to symbolise the success of America’s skilled immigration system, evidence that legal immigration could work as intended.For students like Pasupuleti, that reputation now feels uncertain. As visa rules tighten and the tone around immigration hardens, many are left questioning whether the country they once saw as the gold standard for opportunity still sees them as part of its future.