US technology majors Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google are set to bear the heaviest impact of President Donald Trump’s decision to raise annual H-1B visa fees to $100,000, from the current starting level of about $1,700.
According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, Amazon was the largest H-1B sponsor with 10,044 approvals as of June 30, 2025. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) ranked second with 5,505, followed by Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202) and Google (4,181).
A spokesperson of Cognizant, seventh with 2,493 visas, told The Telegraph it was reviewing the proclamation to assess its impact, highlighting its “resilient business model” and local hiring focus.
Infosys, once among the top five with over 11,000 visas in 2018, has scaled down to 2,004, placing it 13th.
“Going by USCIS data, the new cost is likely to weigh more heavily on American tech firms, which rely significantly on Indian professionals,” an IT industry observer said.
In his proclamation, Trump said the H-1B programme has been misused to replace American workers with cheaper labour. However, US think tank Pew Research Center’s data shows that 65 per cent of H-1B workers approved in 2023 held computer-related roles with a median salary of $123,600. Engineering jobs accounted for 9 per cent of approvals, with a median pay of $115,000.
