New Delhi: President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas for workers hired from outside the US is expected to have a major impact on IT outsourcing and staffing companies, particularly multinational firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Cognizant Technology Solutions. The fee represents the largest restriction on skilled foreign workers introduced by the Trump administration to date.
A Bloomberg analysis found that nearly 90 percent of new H-1B hires at Tata, Infosys, and Cognizant between May 2020 and May 2024 were approved at US consulates. If the fee had applied during that period, these companies would have faced hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs. Infosys alone would have incurred visa charges exceeding a billion dollars for over 10,400 new H-1B hires, while Tata and Cognizant would have faced fees for roughly 6,500 and 5,600 employees respectively.
Even if legal challenges succeed in blocking the fee, experts predict it will likely reduce visa demand and encourage firms to place more workers overseas. Immigration attorney Jonathan Wasden noted that highly skilled talent abroad may be the first to miss opportunities, while some IT companies, such as Cognizant, have indicated that the fee will have limited short-term impact due to reduced reliance on visas for select technology roles.
H-1B visas have long been dominated by large IT firms, which use them to fill high-skilled positions in the US. The program has faced criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who argue that it can be used as a cost-effective alternative to hiring American workers, despite minimum wage requirements for H-1B employees.
The Trump administration’s fee comes alongside a broader overhaul of the visa lottery system, which analysts say could cut new H-1B registrations by 30 to 50 percent next year. Industry observers expect the changes will encourage US-based companies to invest more in India, the source of a majority of H-1B workers, and shift hiring strategies to adapt to the increased costs.
While some companies have downplayed the immediate impact, analysts suggest that the combination of the $100,000 fee and lottery reforms will reshape hiring practices across the IT sector, incentivizing firms to reconsider overseas placements and talent sourcing strategies.
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