The US administration early Saturday morning signed a proclamation imposing a fee of $100,000 per year on H-1B visa holders, dealing a major blow to skilled technology workers from India and China. According to Reuters, India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas last year, accounting for 71% of approved beneficiaries, while China stood second at 11.7%.
According to USCIS data, TCS accounted for over 5,505 H1B visas granted for fiscal year 2025 (Oct 2024-September 2025), followed by Cognizant (3,700), Infosys (2004), LTIMindtree (1807) and HCL Tech (1,728).
According to Pew Research, around 73% of H-1B workers whose applications were approved in fiscal 2023 were born in India. "A majority of approvals every year since 2010 have gone to workers born in India. China is the second-most common birthplace, accounting for 12% of H-1B workers approved in 2023. No other birthplace accounted for even 2% of H-1B workers approved in 2023," says Pew Research.
Pew Research further says that since fiscal 2012, about 60% or more of H-1B workers approved each year have held a computer-related job. In 2023, the share was 65%, and these workers reported a median annual salary of $123,600.
In 2025, US firm Amazon accounted for over 10,000 beneficiaries, followed by Microsoft and Meta, both of which received H1B visa approval for over 5,100 beneficiaries.
A spokesperson from Nasscom, which represents the Indian IT companies, told TNIE that it is currently assessing the situation. It, however, has not issued any other statement till the time of filing of the report.
Though Indians continue to corner around 3/4th of H1B visas, Indian IT companies have been reducing their dependence on H1B. CP Gurnani, co-founder & vice-chairman, AIonOS (a JV between InterGlobe Enterprises & Assago Ventures) said: "Over the past several years, Indian IT firms have significantly reduced their reliance on the H-1B visa, with filings dropping by over 50%. This shift is a result of our ongoing strategy to hire more locally, invest in automation, and enhance our global delivery models. While visa fees may change, the impact on our business will be minimal, as we’ve already adapted to this evolving landscape."
Gurnani used to head IT firm Tech Mahinda till December 2023.
In a press release, the White House quoted US President Donald Trump as saying, “The H-1B non-immigrant visa program was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to perform high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour. Some employers, using practices now widely adopted by entire sectors, have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labour market for American citizens, while at the same time making it more difficult to attract and retain the highest-skilled subset of temporary workers, with the largest impact seen in critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.”
Trump added that the number of foreign STEM workers in the United States more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, from 1.2 million to nearly 2.5 million, while overall STEM employment rose only 44.5% during the same period. Among computer and mathematics occupations, the share of foreign workers grew from 17.7% in 2000 to 26.1% in 2019. “And the key facilitator for this influx of foreign STEM labour has been the abuse of the H-1B visa,” he said.
The proclamation came just 15 days after US Republican Senator Bernie Moreno introduced the Halting International Relocation of Employment (HIRE) Act, which proposed a 25% tax on US companies that outsource jobs or hire foreign employees for work in the country.