By a skeptical geopolitical observer tired of neat narratives and neat endings
The Illusion of Permanence: When Host Countries Change the Rules
In 2025, the idea of the “Indian abroad” is being violently reshaped. This includes the experiences of tech workers in California. It also affects students in Canada and construction laborers in the Gulf. Few in Delhi or Hyderabad saw these forces coming.
The assumption was always this: once you’re “there,” you’re safe. Maybe not welcomed, but safe. Maybe not fully included, but still economically essential. That illusion is crumbling.
Across continents, countries are tightening their immigration policies, cutting work visas, and quietly nudging—or outright shoving—Indians to pack their bags. This isn’t just about xenophobia or nationalism. It’s also cold, transactional geopolitics. A recalibration of who gets to stay—and who no longer fits the economic or political script.
Let’s trace the arc of this rollback. The flags may be different, but the playbook is alarmingly familiar.
United States: From ‘Brain Gain’ to ‘Go Home’
Despite its tech dependency on Indian talent, the U.S. in 2025 is an increasingly hostile space for Indian professionals. The H-1B visa, once a golden ticket, is now a gilded trap.
- Renewal rejections have surged by over 35% since 2023.
- The new “American Labor First” clause prioritizes domestic applicants, regardless of employer preference.
- Even legally present H-1B holders are being offered “voluntary departure incentives”—a bureaucratic euphemism for forced exit.
Behind the scenes, the Department of Homeland Security has amplified workplace raids and compliance crackdowns. What’s left is a chilling atmosphere. Indian families, many here for over a decade, are quietly selling homes. They are pulling kids from schools and heading back to India. Their suitcases are full of anxiety and half-finished dreams.
This isn’t just policy. It’s purge by attrition.
Canada: The Great Reversal
Until recently, Canada was seen as America’s polite, open-hearted cousin. But the housing crisis, health system overload, and a sharp rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric have changed the script.
- Over 70,000 international students, many from India, could be deported. This is due to post-study permit denials or fraud scandals involving private colleges.
- A new cap on study visas for “over-represented nationalities” has disproportionately affected Punjab and Gujarat.
Indians are learning that multiculturalism is a slogan; gatekeeping is the practice. Trudeau’s inclusive rhetoric is now competing with provincial leaders pushing for “demographic balance” and “domestic prioritization.”
And let’s be blunt: many Canadians are asking, not so subtly—why are there so many of you here?
Gulf Countries: The Expiry Date of the Kafala Dream
Nowhere is the Indian diaspora more economically critical—and more politically disposable—than in the Gulf.
Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar have launched aggressive “Saudization,” “Emiratization,” and “Qatarization” policies. Translation? Fewer foreign workers. More locals in jobs—regardless of competence or interest.
- India has seen a 15% drop in Gulf remittances in 2024 alone.
- New residency quotas mean tens of thousands of Indian blue-collar workers are not getting their permits renewed.
This matters. These workers built the skyscrapers of Dubai and the World Cup stadiums of Doha. Now, they’re being replaced with AI, locals, or cheaper labor from Africa.
For India, this isn’t just a labor issue. It’s a remittance crisis waiting to explode.
Australia & the UK: Silent Squeezes, Subtle Shoves
In Australia, the government has cancelled thousands of graduate visas under the guise of “visa integrity.” Many of these visas are held by Indian students. Appeals are slow and expensive. In effect, they’re being priced out of justice.
The UK, post-Brexit and post-wokeness, is back to a cold calculus: Indians are good for trade, not for tea. The student work visa window has been halved. Family reunification clauses tightened. Deportations masked as “visa expirations” have quietly accelerated.
Both countries still claim to “value Indian talent.” What they mean is: we like your tuition fees, but don’t get too comfortable.
Why This Matters: A Wake-Up Call for India’s Middle Class
What’s happening isn’t just a backlash. It’s a structural realignment.
- The West is aging—but it’s also automating.
- The Gulf is rich—but it’s increasingly nationalist.
- The Anglosphere still needs skilled workers—but only on short leashes.
India’s young population, once seen as a global asset, is now being repackaged as a potential liability in foreign capitals.
Millions of Indian families have mortgaged land. Others have sold gold to send a child abroad. For them, the return isn’t a homecoming. It’s defeat.
And for India itself, this return migration—largely invisible in New Delhi’s policy discourse—carries explosive potential. Jobs, infrastructure, housing, re-skilling—none of it is ready.
Can India Turn Brain Drain into Brain Gain? Or Just Brain Waste?
Here’s the paradox. India may soon have the world’s largest pool of returned, educated, globally trained talent. But if it can’t absorb them—socially, economically, institutionally—it will waste the very advantage others now fear.
There’s also a more subtle risk: disillusionment.
This generation believed in mobility, meritocracy, and the promise of globalization. If that dream dies at immigration counters and embassy queues, what replaces it? Resentment? Radicalism? Retreat into tribal identities?
India needs a plan. Not a slogan. Not a “Viksit Bharat” banner. A real policy framework for returnees: fast-track integration, start-up grants, local hiring quotas, and mental health support.
Final Thought: Exiles in Reverse
The world’s mood is shifting. From openness to suspicion. From inclusion to utility. Indians abroad—once ambassadors of aspiration—are now collateral in nationalist reboots.
This isn’t just about borders tightening. It’s about the global contract of mobility breaking down.
The question is not just why are they being sent home?
The real question is: what kind of India are they coming back to?
And will it be ready?