Software services industry body Nasscom on Monday said the US clarifications have eased concerns about business continuity and uncertainty for H-1B holders and that India’s IT companies operating in America have already started reducing the dependency on such visas.
Over the weekend, Washington clarified that the fee hike will not affect current H-1B visa holders and will be a one-time fee only for fresh petitions.
"Moreover, with the fee being applicable from 2026 onward, it gives companies time to further step up skilling programmes in the US and enhance local hiring," the apex industry body said.
The industry is spending over $1 billion on local upskilling and hiring in the US, and the number of local hires has increased, per Nasscom. The number of H-1B visas issued to leading Indian and India-centric companies has decreased from 14,792 in 2015 to 10,162 in 2024.
H-1B workers for the top 10 Indian and India-centric companies are less than 1 per cent of their entire employee base. "Given this trajectory, we anticipate only a marginal impact for the sector," it said.
According to Nasscom, H-1B workers are a mere decimal point of the overall US workforce.
"Nasscom has consistently advocated for predictable and stable skilled talent mobility frameworks, which are critical for sustaining national competitiveness and have long fuelled US innovation and economic growth,” it said.
“Skilled talent mobility will be central to enabling businesses to make forward-looking investment decisions, accelerate research, and strengthen nations' position in the global innovation economy.”
While some industry experts noted that they foresee no immediate adverse impact over the next six-12 months as the hike takes effect only in the upcoming application cycle, others cautioned that the delay notwithstanding, there could be a deferred impact requiring reassessment eventually of business strategies by IT companies if the rule stays.
Indian tech professionals account for the bulk of H-1Bs, over 70 per cent.
According to the USCIS website, for fiscal year 2025 (data as of June 30, 2025), Amazon topped the list of H-1B visa approvals at 10,044.
TCS (5,505) is at second spot, followed by Microsoft Corp (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Cognizant (2,493), JP Morgan Chase (2,440), Walmart (2,390) and Deloitte Consulting (2,353). The top 20 list includes Infosys (2,004), LTIMindtree (1,807), and HCL America (1,728).
The Congressional-mandated pool is 65,000 such visas every year, along with an additional 20,000 visas reserved for those who have earned advanced degrees in the US.
