After the United States hiked the fee for a skilled worker visa to an astronomically high level could Indian workers turn Germany, which offers comparatively cheap visas, helping the country reverse its worker shortage? As the dream of moving to the US for work becomes increasingly out of reach for most skilled workers in India, Germany could prove to be well positioned to attract more of the skilled workers it needs. Previously the US awarded around 85,000 H-1B visas per year on a lottery system, with India accounting for around three-quarters of the recipients. Friday's changes to the skilled worker visa scheme, which included a new $100,000 fee, rattled the tech industry and left US companies scrambling to figure out the implications. At the beginning of this year Germany more than quadrupled the number of skilled worker visas that are specifically available to Indian citizens – from 20,000 to 90,000 annually.