New norm with regard to H-1B visa entry fee has created more uncertainty for the Indian IT sector. At a time when AI wave is sweeping the world and trade tariffs have put technology investment on hold, Trump’s latest salvo at Indian IT industry has added to the uncertainty. For decades, H-1B visa programme has been successfully leveraged by Indian IT services companies to send technology professionals to the US for working on client projects. However, this reliance has come down substantially over the years with local hiring gaining momentum.

During President Doland Trump’s first term, Indian IT firms had seen tightening of visa norms with low percentage of approvals. To derisk the operating model, big IT companies have reduced their reliance on H-1B visa over the years. Meanwhile, global technology firms have been major beneficiaries of this immigration programme. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Amazon had 10,044 workers using H-1B visas as of June, 2025. While TCS has received 5,505 H-1B visas, Microsoft has 5,189 people working under this programme.

Similarly, Meta has 5,123, Apple at 4,202, Google at 4,181, Deloitte at 2,353, Infosys at 2,004, Wipro at 1,523 and Tech Mahindra Americas has 951 employees, who have got approval under H-1B visa programme. These data points indicate that global technology giant’s reliance on H-1B visa programme is way higher than their Indian counterparts.

Over the years, Indian IT firms have not only hired locals for manning their US operations, many have been actively training American students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) space for joining the tech world. Such initiatives indicate that Indian IT industry has played an active role in US socioeconomic system, contrary to the view that Indians are eating American jobs.

As Indian IT firms have a lot less reliance on H-1B visas, the new norm will have minimal impact on their operations for the current financial year. From next year onwards, Indian IT companies will try to bring in more work to offshore locations like India or near-shore locations like Canada & Mexico to reduce the impact of new norms. For critical work, companies will not be hesitant to pay $100,000 entry fee, which is likely to be passed on to the client.

All-in-all, Indian IT industry can withstand the negative impact of H-1B visa norm changes. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is now planning to replace the visa system from present lottery to wage-based system. In the wage-based system, visa will be given to professionals with a higher experience and wage. This will encourage movement of more experienced and costly human resources than junior and mid-level workers.

Therefore, this proposed norm, if passed, will be net negative for the Indian IT industry as they have to bear more wage cost for sending resources to the US. Clearly, the H1B visa programme is going through a lot of changes with far reaching impact on Indian IT industry. It is better if domestic technology industry leverages AI to get work done and reduce its dependence on the H-1B visa programme for its long-term growth.