The H-1B visa fee proposal by US President Donald Trump is set to raise hiring costs for Indian IT firms, including Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, according to a Bloomberg News analysis released this week in the United States. The measure targets new overseas hires and reshapes cross-border staffing decisions.
What changed in the H-1B visa fee policy
Under the proposal, companies would pay $100,000 for each new H-1B worker hired through US consular processing. The fee applies only to hires made from outside the country. As a result, firms that rely on offshore recruitment face higher upfront costs.
Bloomberg found that multinational IT and staffing firms depend heavily on this route. Between May 2020 and May 2024, nearly 90% of new H-1B approvals at TCS, Infosys, and Cognizant came through consulates rather than in-country status changes.
Impact of the H-1B visa fee on IT firms
Infosys shows the highest exposure. Over 93% of its new H-1B hires during the period, more than 10,400 workers, would have triggered the H-1B visa fee. The total cost would have exceeded $1 billion.
Meanwhile, TCS would have faced the fee for around 6,500 workers, accounting for 82% of its new approvals. Cognizant would have paid the charge for more than 5,600 employees, or 89% of its new H-1B hires.
As a result, the proposed H-1B visa fee would have added hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses for each firm.
Why the H-1B visa fee matters now
The proposal marks the most restrictive step yet under Trump’s immigration agenda targeting skilled foreign workers. Legal challenges are underway. However, immigration lawyers say employers have already begun reassessing sponsorship decisions.
“We’re already seeing that happen,” immigration attorney Jonathan Wasden told Bloomberg. He said firms now weigh visa costs against offshore delivery options.
Large IT consultancies dominate the H-1B programme, which issues 85,000 visas each year. While critics argue the system hurts domestic jobs, employers must still pay prevailing wages under US law.
How companies are responding
The fee builds on earlier changes that expanded lottery registrations to more than 758,000 entries in fiscal 2024. US officials accused parts of the consulting sector of exploiting that system.
A White House spokesperson said the H-1B visa fee would discourage excessive applications and improve certainty for US employers. Industry experts, however, expect more work to shift offshore, especially to India.
Infosys previously said only a minority of its US workforce requires visa sponsorship and that services would continue without disruption. Other firms declined comment.
Analysts say the next visa lottery cycle will show how hiring strategies adjust under the new cost structure.
