Even if pay is half or one third, I prefer India (saying as someone who was an h1b in US for 6.5 years). India has a lot of problems-bad infrastructure, crazy traffic, poor air, bad policing and so on. Life in India is basically like playing a game in difficult mode while US is easy mode. But the peace of mind that comes with not having to live in the uncertainty that h1b brings is insanely huge. When it comes to quality of life, while things like good air matters, the "uncertainty" seems to override pretty much everything else, at least in my case. I guess my lizard brain sees it as "US has lot of resources that will get you lot of food, but there are plenty of predators, so you must go somewhere free from those, and until you do that I am going to make you miserable". It may sound stupid, but that's how I make sense of my experience as an h1b.

Based on my rough estimates, when I compare an h1b (earning $100k in midwest per year and paying $1000 per month rent with a stay at home spouse and kids) vs the same person working in India with spouse also working (both earning ₹50-70k per month), the person in India can save more or less same. And if that person were to try in one of the good companies in big cities say Bengaluru, they most likely will save more.

Bankruptcy due to medical bills is another major concern (one of my h1b friends faced this, ended up wiping out all his savings he had from his 1+ year stay in US, and I think some of it went to collections).

Another issue is the one faced by h1b spouses, who are predominantly women. With the proposed removal of h4 work authorization (h4 means spouses of h1b), this becomes an even bigger issue considering that Indians typically have to wait anywhere from 15-20-50-150 years for the green card. Imagine being completely reliant on your spouse on a foreign country with absolutely no support. I wouldn't want to be in that situation, I don't want my wife to be in that either. One can never know when a person will change.

>Sharing her experience while interacting with the victims of domestic violence, Peshawaria said overarching their rather harrowing lives is the fear of social stigma that is particularly intense for the women who come from south Asia. More often than not, they have been told stories about how a wonderful life awaits them in America, the world's richest country, which would be a dramatic improvement for them compared to what they experience in India," she said.

https://www.news18.com/news/india/indian-american-lawyer-aut...

And reports like below makes me suspicious of how great the immigrant life is actually. I am not saying crimes/suicides don't happen in India, but its not that reassuring since I am not sure if its murder-suicide or if they were targeted.

* June 2019-Iowa family of four found dead with gunshot wounds: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/iowa-family-four-f...

* May 2019-'Why haven't they found the killer yet?': Sikh family want answers in West Chester (quadruple) shooting: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/05/08/west-cheste...

* February 2019-Friends reel from suspected murder-suicide death of Sugar Land, TX, couple: https://www.newsindiatimes.com/friends-reel-from-suspected-m...