The high fee is another attempt by the US government to curb immigration. The $100,000 price tag on new H1-B visa workers hired from outside the US will disproportionately hit Indians, especially women.
We take a look.
TCS, Infosys to feel the heat
US President Donald Trump’s $100,000 application fee for H-1B worker visas could impact multinational staffing firms, including Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Ltd, and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, the hardest, as per a
These firms act as middlemen for companies seeking H-1B workers.
Between May 2020 and May 2024, about 90 per cent of new H-1B visa hires at these three companies were approved at US consulates.
The fees for the H-1B visas have been about $2,000 (Rs 1.8 lakh) in many cases.
These companies would have had to pay hundreds of millions more if the $100,000 fee had been in effect at the time.
Infosys could be hit hard by Trump's $100,000 fees for new H-1B workers. Representational Image/Reuters
Over 93 per cent of new Infosys H-1B hires, or 10,400 workers, during the period would have been affected by the exorbitant visa fees, according to
Tata would have had to pay millions of dollars in visa charges for 6,500 workers hired over that period, or 82 per cent of newly approved H-1B workers. Cognizant would have had to shell out the fee for 5,600 employees, or 89 per cent of new H-1B hires.
The Trump administration's decision to increase the H-1B visa fees to $100,000 has been challenged by states and business groups separately. A hearing in the lawsuit filed by the US Chamber of Commerce against the hiked fees will be heard in court this week.
Women, mainly Indians, to pay the price
The one-time $1,00,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications could impact young Indian women hires the most.
H-1B visa beneficiaries are predominantly men. In the financial year (FY) 2024, among workers approved for continuing their jobs (extending or switching), 74 per cent were men and only 26 per cent were women, The Hindu reported, citing data.
Among new hires, 37 per cent were women. As the new fee applies to new workers, women, whose share among fresh applicants has surged, are expected to suffer more.
“It has left me heartbroken,” a 29-year-old Indian woman, who works at TCS and dreamt of settling in the US, told Al Jazeera in September of Trump’s fee hike.
“All my life, I planned for this; everything circled around this goal for me to move to the US. The so-called ‘American Dream’ looks like a cruel joke now.”
Female H-1B workers are also paid less compared to their male counterparts. This could further dissuade companies from sponsoring them. This gender tilt is more visible in India than China, which together made up for 83 per cent of the H-1B visa beneficiaries in FY24, as per
Among new women hires in FY24, 75 per cent were below 35 years of age, compared with 65 per cent of men. This means that a large number of young women starting their careers will be more stung by the high fees.
The hike in visa fees could impact recent graduates or early-career professionals, as companies in the US may avoid hiring them.
Most H-1B visa holders are from India, followed by China. In 2024, Indians accounted for 71 per cent of approved beneficiaries, while China stood at 11.7 per cent, according to government data.
Most Indians employed in the US work in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. As per a 2023 BBC report, about 65 per cent of Indian H-1B visa holders were employed in computer-related roles.
The base salary of an H-1B visa employee is supposed to be $60,000 (Rs 54. 26 lakh). However, with the new fees, an employer's cost will rise to at least $160,000 (Rs 1.5 crore). In several cases, companies are likely to go for American workers with similar skills for lower pay.
As the Trump administration’s step would increase millions of dollars in costs for companies, smaller tech firms and start-ups would be hit the most.
How are tech companies preparing for the shift?
The demand for new H-1B visa workers is likely to drop, with companies hiring more workers overseas, according to tech industry observers.
The IT consulting industry had already "pulled back" on new H-1Bs since 2024 and the fee will "push more jobs overseas", Steve Hall, chief AI officer at Information Services Group Inc, a tech research firm that advises clients on IT outsourcing, told Bloomberg.
US-based corporations are expected to increase investments in India over the next half decade, he said. "If you want to access the world's best talent, you have to go where the talent is," Hall added.
Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), a Delhi-based think tank, told Al Jazeera in September that the hardest-hit sectors due to the fee hike would be “the ones that Indian professionals dominate: mid-level IT services jobs, software developers, project managers, and back-end support in finance and healthcare”.
He pointed out that for many of these roles, the $100,000 fee exceeds an entry-level employee’s annual salary, which makes sponsorship uneconomical, especially for smaller firms and startups. “The cost of hiring a foreign worker now exceeds local hiring by a wide margin,” he said.
“American firms will scout more domestic talent, reserve H-1Bs for only the hardest-to-fill specialist roles, and push routine work offshore to India or other hubs,” according to Srivastava.
Some firms say they are prepared for the changes.
"The recently announced Proclamation is expected to have limited near-term impact on Cognizant's operations," Cognizant spokesman Jeff DeMarrais said, as per Bloomberg. "Over the past several years, we have significantly reduced our reliance on visas, using them only for select technology roles that supplement our US workforce."
In October, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh had said that only a small share of the company's US workforce requires sponsorship for employment. The company's work with clients will continue "without any disruption to their services today and into the future," Parekh said.
Miki Carver, spokesperson of IBM Corp, which hired 88 per cent of its H-1B workers from abroad, said it shifted its approach to high-skilled immigration over time.
"Our focus remains on ensuring we have the right skills to meet clients' evolving needs," Carver was quoted as saying by
With inputs from agencies
