Until December 2016, Aniruddha Kanodia was readying to move to the United States of America after completing his Class 12 from Churchgate's K C College in India.

The student wished to switch streams, from commerce to computer science. American universities offer him a better chance, says the 17-year-old. He even got through Wisconsin Madison, Illinois Urbana Champaign and Purdue University.

Now, however, Canada has moved to top choice and he will most likely pick from between the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia. Donald Trump had something to do with it, reported midday.cm

Ever since he was elected the 45th president of America, there has been a paradigm shift in how the country is viewed internationally. A report last week, released by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, said that nearly 40 per cent of colleges are reporting an overall decline in applications from international students, according to a survey of 250 American colleges and universities.

"Currently, the opportunities in Canada are better. Here, there are options for part-time jobs and a three-year work permit after graduation. Plus, over all, the education is also good," says Kanodia. It's not just possibilities of a future in a Western country.

With recent hate crimes against Indians, the change in environment is also pushing Kanodia and his ilk towards other countries.

After white collar workers, all American citizens, talked about how the visa system passed by the Congress in 1993, had robbed them of their jobs while giving the same opportunities to immigrants, at lower pay, Trump addressed during this in the Presidential campaign and is now trying to address in his proposals.

In January, a US lawmaker introduced a bill in the US Congress to mandate companies who employ workers with H-1B visa to double the pay from $60,000 to $130,000 a year. Another proposal, the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, requires that employers first offer a vacant position to an equally or better qualified American worker before seeking an H-1B holder.

Under the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform, the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security will have additional oversight authority to investigate fraud and abuse and also to increase penalties for companies that violate the bill's requirements. There hasn't been an executive order on it yet, but its reverberations are echoing across both the US and India, which accounts for over 70 per cent of the H-1B visas issued every year.

New York-based Neena Dutta from Dutta Law Firm, principal attorney and board member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, points out however, that discrimination against Indian immigrant workers over visa issues is not new.

A 2015 policy brief by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysed data which revealed that the denial rate for L-1B petitions - the L-1B visa is used by an employer to transfer an existing employee from an office anywhere in the world to its American office - was 56 per cent for the financial years 2010 to 2014 compared to the average denial rate of 13 per cent to transfer employees from all other countries during the same period. For instance, only 4 per cent of Canadian nationals were denied L-1B petitions.

L-1 visas to transfer employees and H-1B visas to hire international students and others are generally the only two practical means by which high-skilled foreign nationals can work long-term in the United States for American employers.

In this climate should Indian students look at studying in the US? Dr Jain says, "Students going for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degrees will continue to be in demand and are likely to get three years of the Optional Training work visa after completion of studies. The Non STEM graduates have been facing difficulties in getting jobs since the last three years as they get a 1 year post study OPT work visa. So, essentially nothing has changed in terms of visa status for students and short term work opportunities."

However, those looking at a long term stay, she says, may need to consider other countries which are more open to granting residency status, like Canada, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand.

Whether it's Khanna or Indians in the IT sector, the new visa proposals are conversation meat among most Indians abroad.