NEW DELHI, Sept 20,2025: Imposing a new $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications could disrupt the global operations of Indian technology services companies that deploy skilled professionals to the United States, India’s IT industry body Nasscom said on Saturday.
The White House announced the new fee on Friday, prompting some major U.S. tech firms to advise visa holders to either remain in the country or return there quickly. The new fee marks Washington’s most high-profile attempt to overhaul the country’s temporary employment visa system.
Nasscom, representing India’s $283 billion IT and business process outsourcing industry, said the abrupt rollout of the policy would impact Indian nationals and disrupt continuity of ongoing onshore projects for the country’s technology services firms.
The industry body said the one-day deadline for the new policy created “considerable uncertainty for businesses, professionals, and students across the world.”
It also said the new policy could have “ripple effects” on the U.S. innovation ecosystem and on global job markets, pointing out that for companies, “additional cost will require adjustments”.
Microsoft, JPMorgan (JPM.N), Amazon responded to the announcement by advising employees holding H-1B visas to remain in the United States.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has launched a broad crackdown on immigration, including efforts to limit certain forms of legal immigration.
Trump’s proclamation aims to curb the overuse and alleged abuse of the H-1B visa programme, which employers have used to bring in foreign workers, mostly from India, sometimes seen as replacing or undercutting American workers. However, this move, which has already drawn a lot of chatter in India, may not be entirely detrimental to the world’s largest democracy, and in some ways could have potential upsides.
Social media users and renowned faces, including former diplomats and former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, have slammed Trump’s move, asserting that the massive USD 100,000 H1-B fee will destroy the American economy and not the Indian economy.
The H-1B visa programme has been a significant factor in India’s brain drain, allowing the US to acquire top Indian talent, particularly in tech, without bearing the significant training costs borne by Indian institutions and the nation. While some argue this creates global networks and remittances for India, the overall impact is seen as a loss of valuable human capital.
But, Trump’s move to massively hike the H-1B visa fee has sparked an opportunity for Indians working in the US to return and contribute their skills and ideas for the homeland. This could also significantly boost the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ programme, which the government is heavily focusing on in various sectors, be it defence, technology or R&D.
Apart from this, social media users in India too said Trump’s move will kill the US economy and at the same time, create opportunities for Indians working in the US to contribute to nation-building and demand better infrastructure from the government.
