It was a Sunday unlike any other for Indians holding H-1B visas. Within hours of US President Donald Trump signing an executive order imposing a $100,000 fee on H-1B workers, ticket prices from India to the US shot up dramatically.
A one-way Delhi–New York ticket that typically cost Rs 37,000–40,000 was suddenly selling for Rs 70,000–80,000. Airlines and travel portals struggled to cope with the spike in demand as panic spread among visa holders abroad.
Big Tech fuels the rush
What triggered the chaos was not just Trump’s announcement, but also frantic internal memos from companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and JP Morgan. Employees were told to either stay put in the US or return immediately to avoid being caught in the new fee trap.
The White House later clarified that the $100,000 levy was a one-time fee that applied only to new visa applications, not to Indians currently abroad on existing H-1Bs. But by then, the scramble had already begun.
Enter the trolls: ‘Operation Clog the Toilet’
As if soaring demand wasn’t enough, an online mob decided to add fuel to the fire. On the notorious imageboard 4Chan, users launched what they gleefully dubbed Operation Clog the Toilet.
The plan:
Search for popular India–US flight routes.
Begin booking seats.
Leave the checkout page open for 15 minutes without paying.
Repeat.
This temporary 'seat hold' trick effectively blocked real passengers from booking. One user bragged, 'I got 100 seats locked.'
The goal, they claimed, was to stop Indians from making it back to the US before the supposed fee deadline.
Who got caught in the crossfire
Indians, who make up nearly 70 percent of all H-1B visa holders, bore the brunt of both the panic-buying and the trolling campaign. Travel aggregators showed hundreds of flights to New York, San Francisco, and Chicago either sold out or listed at double the usual price.
While many scrambled to secure tickets at inflated fares, others complained online that even after selecting flights, they could not complete purchases due to artificial scarcity created by 4Chan users.
What is 4Chan?
4Chan is an anonymous online message board founded in 2003 that has long been a breeding ground for internet memes, trolling campaigns, and, at times, extremist content. Divided into topic-based boards, it allows users to post without creating accounts, which fuels both its creativity and its notoriety. While many viral internet trends have started there, the platform is equally infamous for coordinating disruptive pranks and harassment drives, like the current 'Operation Clog the Toilet' targeting Indian H-1B holders.
White House clarification too late to calm nerves
By Sunday evening, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X to calm the chaos:
“Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter.”
But the damage was done. Ticket prices remained high, travel plans were disrupted, and Indian tech workers found themselves pawns in a mix of geopolitical policy shifts and online trolling antics.
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