According to Indian-origin immigration lawyer Yash Dubal, as uncertainty continues over the future of H-1B visas in the US, more skilled professionals are looking to the United Kingdom as a backup plan without giving up their US ambitions.Dubal, CEO and director of London-based AY&J Solicitors, said his company has seen a surge in inquiries from H-1B visa holders, especially Indian engineers and researchers who have spent years waiting for a US green card.“Most of our inquiries from the US come from Indian engineers and researchers, who are often in their thirties and on H-1B visas. Usually their spouses are on H-4 visas and they have US-born children. They have been waiting for green cards for years. The Global Talent Visa is the first avenue they’ve looked at where their professional record actually translates into a timeline,” Double told The American Bazaar.The increase in interest comes as uncertainty continues over the H-1B program, including debate over a proposed $100,000 H-1B visa fee. Canada and Australia remain popular destinations for skilled immigrants, but immigration experts say the UK’s ‘Global Talent Visa’ is emerging as a more attractive option for professionals already working in the US.It was introduced in 2020 as part of Britain’s post-Brexit immigration system. The Global Talent Visa is aimed at people recognized as leaders or potential leaders in their fields, or those who can demonstrate exceptional talent or promise.Unlike the skilled worker visa, this is linked to the individual rather than the employer. Applicants do not need a job offer or employer sponsorship, there is no minimum wage requirement, and visa holders are free to change jobs, work as freelancers, do consulting work, or start a business.Dubal believes that the biggest attraction is the shorter path to permanent settlement compared to the long wait that many Indian professionals face in the United States.He said: “The April 2026 visa bulletin sets the EB-2 India date as July 2014, which means a fourteen-year wait for a green card. The UK Global Talent visa gets you settlement in three. It’s not an emotional decision more than that. It’s arithmetic. Clients I’m talking to in San Francisco and Seattle are doing the same calculation.”The Global Talent Visa covers a range of professions including digital technology, engineering, education, research, natural and medical sciences, humanities, social sciences and the arts. Before applying for a visa, applicants must first obtain endorsement from an approved UK body.According to immigration consultants, this route is quite different from the H-1B visa. It is evidence-based rather than lottery-based, has no annual limit, and settlement can occur in as little as three years in the UK for eligible applicants.Dubal said many skilled professionals mistakenly believe they are not qualified.“Indian engineers applying to us are often closer to qualifying than they expected. What I see most often now is that families are running parallel options. Indian H-1B holders are not abandoning the US scheme. They are keeping the UK scheme alongside it as a hedge. The choice between three years to settle in the UK and another decade of uncertainty in the US becomes hard to avoid once it is on the page.”He said more people have started looking to the UK as uncertainty continues over the H-1B program following the court’s ruling on proposed visa fees.“What changed in October (2025) is not just policy. The political instability around H-1B has not stopped, even after the recent court ruling on hundred-thousand-dollar fees. Indian professionals are no longer looking forward to uncertainty in the US as a temporary problem. They are considering it as a feature of the system and acting accordingly,” he said.For many H-1B holders, especially Indian and Chinese nationals facing green card backlogs for years, Dubal believes the decision is no longer about choosing one country over another. Instead, more families are adopting the UK option while keeping their long-term plans alive in the US.