Amazon had been losing money for a decade when it took on Shobhit Mathur. He remembers it that way, and he is now using that memory to challenge a new round of US immigration curbs.
He challenged the Trump administration’s restrictions on green card pathways for employees of major technology companies, arguing that America risks turning its back on the very immigrants who helped build its technology empire. Mathur’s comments follow a widely shared post on X. His argument is that political rhetoric and tighter rules cannot erase what immigrant talent has added to American innovation. It could, however, affect the permanent residency process for eligible employees. He suggested domestic politics may be shaping the language, with the US midterm elections approaching. His bigger worry is elsewhere. Mathur did not claim the H-1B system is perfect. “There are challenges in the H-1B system.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement on October 9.
“When Amazon hired me on an H-1B visa, Amazon was making losses for 10 straight years,” said Mathur, co-founder and vice-chancellor of Rishihood University. In it, he said Indian professionals on H-1B visas were part of the early team that built Amazon Web Services (AWS). It said PERM is separate from the H-1B visa programme, and that the suspension does not by itself affect existing H-1B visas or the status of holders and their dependants. The ministry also objected strongly to US Vice-President JD Vance’s description of foreign workers as “indentured servants”, calling the term deeply offensive. It said Indian professionals are highly educated and skilled, and that their work benefits both countries through research, productivity, innovation, competitiveness and job creation. “I fear more for the people who are living there,” he said, speaking of Indian Americans who could face hostility as anti-immigrant messaging grows. I will not deny that there is no fraud,” he said. “But you can’t paint the entire programme with a single brush.”
