United States President Donald Trump on Friday dramatically ramped up the application fee for companies hiring employees on H-1B worker visas, the principal mechanism for firms to bring in workers with specialised skills from around the world in fields ranging from technology to teaching.
The increase, to $100,000 per application, is meant to deter companies from using the programme to bring in foreign workers at current levels, amid a growing and heated debate within the US on immigration.
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However, the hike in fees has also led to confusion, set off worries over its effect on the US tech sector, and raised questions about who really gained from H-1B visas, how that has changed over the years, and who might lose out most with the revised rules.
What has the Trump administration announced?
Through a proclamation that the US president signed, his administration decreed that starting 12:01am ET (04:01 GMT) on Sunday, companies must pay $100,000 per H-1B application.
The fees previously ranged from $2,000 to $5,000, based on the size of the company applying for the visa.
“The fee is a one-time fee on submission of a new H-1B petition,” the White House said, explaining Trump’s proclamation.
It added that the rules do not apply to people who already hold H-1B visas or those who submitted their applications before September 21.
Separately, the Department of Labor is updating prevailing wage rules to ensure H-1B visas go to only highly qualified foreign workers, the White House said. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security will prioritise high-skilled, higher-paid applicants in the H-1B lottery over those earning less, it added, also saying that other reforms to the H-1B visa system are under consideration.
What’s the Trump administration’s rationale for the visa fee hike?
The H-1B visa was introduced as part of a series of visa reforms that the US introduced in 1990 under President George HW Bush.
It lets companies hire foreign workers with specialised skills for up to six years in the US.
But critics have long argued that it is misused by recruitment firms to bring in workers at wages lower than what companies would have to pay US employees, both scamming the system and at the same time taking away jobs that would have otherwise gone to Americans.
The current minimum annual salary that companies are supposed to pay H-1B visa recipients is $60,000, whereas critics argue that a US tech worker would receive $100,000 or more for the same job.
“If you’re going to train somebody, you’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land. Train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday.
Where do most H-1B visa holders come from?
Indian tech workers constitute the bulk of H-1B visa recipients.
In 2024, for instance, Indians received 71 percent of approved H-1B visas, followed by Chinese nationals in second place with 11.7 percent, according to US government data.
The Filipinos were third, accounting for 1.3 percent of approved H-1B visas; Canadians were in fourth place, accounting for 1.1 percent; and South Koreans were in fifth place, accounting for 1 percent.
But when it comes to the companies actually recruiting these workers and applying for visas on their behalf, the picture becomes more complex and reflects a shifting pattern.
Which companies have received the most H-1B visas historically?
Historically, Indian technology companies have brought the most employees holding H-1B visas to the US, taking the top four spots between 2009 and 2025.
According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, between 2009 and June 30, 2025:
- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), an Indian multinational IT and consulting firm based in Mumbai, received the most H-1B visas: 98,259.
- Cognizant, born in India’s Chennai in the 1990s but now a US company, is in second place with 92,435 visas.
- Infosys, with its headquarters in India’s Bengaluru, comes next, with 87,654 visas.
- Wipro, also based out of Bengaluru, is in fourth place, with 77,289 visas.
Yet a look at recent years suggests a change has been under way.
Which companies have received the most H-1B visas recently?
Between 2015 and 2025, TCS, Cognizant and Infosys remained in the top three spots, but the fourth and fifth places were taken over by US technology giants Microsoft and Google, respectively.
Since 2020, the shift has been more dramatic, with US tech company Amazon topping the list (43,375), and Google (35,736) and Microsoft (35,356) taking the fourth and fifth spots.
Infosys (43,332 visas) and TCS (38,138) took the second and third positions, respectively.
Even more recent data points to a breakdown very different from what it was a decade ago.
In the first six months of 2025, TCS is the only Indian company in the top-10 H-1B visa recipients, with 5,505 visas. Cognizant, with its Indian roots, comes in at seventh place. Led by Amazon (10,044 visas), the rest of the leaderboard in terms of H-1B visa recipients is dominated by the who’s who of US tech, banking, consulting and retail: Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Google, JP Morgan Chase, Walmart and Deloitte.
What is behind this shift?
As scrutiny of the H-1B programme grew during Trump’s first term, top Indian companies which recruit foreign talent for US jobs began hiring more Americans.
During his first term, Trump described the H-1B programme as “very, very bad” for American workers. A few months before his first term ended in 2020, he temporarily banned H-1B visas, but the ban was overturned by a federal court.
By January 2025, more than half of TCS workers in the US were locally hired, company CEO K Krithivasan told Indian news channel CNBC-TV18.
Still, Indian tech majors have continued to face questions over their hiring practices in the US.
What allegations do Indian tech firms face in the US?
A former TCS employee sued the company in 2024, alleging that it had fired American workers in favour of younger graduates or employees of Indian or South Asian origin on temporary work visas. The lawsuit accused the company of violating federal and state laws against discrimination — charges that TCS has denied.
The case was filed by Randy Devorin in the Southern District Court of Florida and has since been transferred to the District of New Jersey. Devorin was terminated from his position in September 2023. In May this year, District Judge Brian R Martinotti denied a motion filed by TCS to dismiss some of the claims made against it.
The company has previously also faced similar allegations from other US employees.
But Indian firms are not the only ones that have been accused of racial or ethnic discrimination in hiring and firing practices.
On September 12, a class-action lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco federal court against Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company, Tesla. The suit alleged that Tesla violates federal civil law to hire foreigners by “systematic preference” and to fire a disproportionate number of US citizens.
The complaint stated that Tesla relies heavily on H-1B visa holders for skilled labour. In 2024, Tesla reportedly hired about 1,355 workers on H-1B visas while laying off more than 6,000 employees, most of whom were believed to be US citizens.
Musk, who sat next to Trump during the memorial of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on Sunday, has long been a proponent of H-1B visas. Originally from South Africa, Musk once held an H-1B visa before becoming a naturalised US citizen.
In 2024, he wrote on his X platform: “The reason I’m in America along with so many critical people who built SpaceX, Tesla and hundreds of other companies that made America strong is because of H-1B.”
Have Trump’s positions on the H-1B visa changed?
Yes, the US president has flip-flopped on the visa programme.
After criticising it during his first term in office, he offered a much more glowing review of it in December 2024. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times,” he told The New York Post, describing it as a “great” programme.
Yet key sections of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) political constituency have been increasingly calling for H-1B visas to be scrapped, or for the programme to be dramatically overhauled.
On Friday, Trump appeared to have acted on those calls.
