H-1B Visa Fee Impact Marginal On IT Sector: NASSCOM
The clarification by the US on the H1-B visa fee that the measure will not affect current visa holders and will apply as a one-time fee only to fresh petitions has helped address the immediate ambiguity surrounding eligibility and timelines
Chennai: As the US has clarified the fee requirement for H-1B visas, NASSCOM anticipates only a marginal impact for India’s IT sector. H-1B workers for the top 10 Indian and India centric companies are less than 1 per cent of their entire employee base.
The clarification by the US on the H1-B visa fee that the measure will not affect current visa holders and will apply as a one-time fee only to fresh petitions has helped address the immediate ambiguity surrounding eligibility and timelines. This alleviates concerns on business continuity and uncertainty for H-1B holders that were outside the US.
Moreover, with the fee being applicable from 2026 onward, companies will get time to further step up skilling programs in the US and enhance local hiring. The industry is spending more than a billion USD on local upskilling and hiring in the US and the number of local hires has increased tremendously.
Over the years, Indian and India-centric companies operating in the US have significantly reduced their dependencies on H-1B visas and steadily increased their local hiring. As per available data, H-1B issued to the leading India and India centric companies has decreased from 14792 in 2015 to 10162 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. Hence, NASSCOM anticipates only a marginal impact for the sector.
H-1B is high skilled worker mobility and a non-immigrant visa that bridges critical skills gaps in the US. Salaries are at par with local hires. Moreover, H-1B workers are a mere decimal point of the overall US workforce.
Predictable and stable skilled talent mobility frameworks are critical for sustaining national competitiveness and have long fuelled US innovation and economic growth. Skilled talent mobility will be central to enabling businesses to make forward-looking investment decisions, Nasscom said.
