Indian entrepreneur Dhananjay Yadav said he was left confused after U.S. authorities denied his visa application, despite his previous time studying in the country and what he described as clear intent to return to India.
In a post on X on February 3, Yadav wrote that the rejection came even though he had no plans to remain in the United States. Yadav is the co-founder and chief executive of NeoSapien, a startup developing a wearable AI device designed to monitor conversations and interpret emotional cues.
The Bengaluru-based entrepreneur said his U.S. visa interview took place on February 3 in New Delhi. He explained that he had applied for the visa after being invited to the United States by an investor in his company.
“I had an invite from a close friend and investor in NeoSapien, Hari Valiyath, to meet him and potential partners,” Yadav said in his post on X.
Valiyath is the co-founder of U.S.-based Pyxis, a company that has raised more than $200 million. He had invited Yadav to the United States for meetings with potential partners, but the visa application was ultimately denied.
“My US visa got rejected this morning, and still trying to understand why,” the CEO of NeoSapien wrote. “I have studied in the US before and worked in Berlin. So, had no intent to stay back.”
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Recounting the interview, Yadav said he clearly explained the purpose of his visit. “When asked about the purpose, I said ‘investor meetings and B2B partnerships’,” he recalled.
He said the conversation then shifted to his salary, even though the travel was being sponsored by his company. “As a founder, my salary is minimal. Shortly after, the visa was rejected,” the Bengaluru-based tech entrepreneur wrote.
Yadav described the decision as “Hard to understand the logic” behind the rejection.
The episode sparked a wider conversation online, with several users pointing to what they described as a tougher climate around U.S. immigration, making even short-term visas harder to secure.
“That’s frustrating. US visa decisions often come down to how well the purpose and category are aligned, not the strength of one’s profile. Founders with low salaries often get misunderstood. Hope you get clearer guidance and succeed on a reapply,” one X user, Ram Kumar, wrote in response.
“EU does it as well. Its a very cheap trick to earn double the money in visa fees. These duds allow criminals to live in their country for free while have the audacity to reject a perfectly filed application with every necessary documentation intact. Its a new milking scheme,” another user said.
Akshay Shah, Founder CEO of iWebTechno, wrote, “It isn’t logic based, its mood based as far as I have understood.”
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Tarish Bhatt offered a different perspective, writing, “Honestly, the designation doesn’t matter much to visa officers. Founder, co-founder, CEO in your own company you can call yourself anything. To them, it’s just a title on paper. What really matters is financial strength and personal stability, steady income, savings, and whether you can comfortably fund the trip yourself even without sponsorship. From their lens: low salary + sponsored trip + ‘investor meetings’ in the US = possible job hunting or business migration risk. It’s less about logic or credentials and more about how they assess risk. Hope you get another shot soon.”
“You just explained the reason out loud -no means of financially supporting yourself. The ‘founder’ or ‘start-up’ visa scam is a well know entry strategy where fake startups are set up, you pay a huge fee to them to get entry as a ‘founder’. Try Canada,” another user wrote.
Another commenter added, “US visa officers assess your personal financial capacity and strong home ties, not just an invite or company profile. Even if the trip is sponsored, they still consider your income, bank balance, and continuity of earnings to assess short-term travel risk.”