H-1B curbs will force India IT firms to rethink US staffing

H-1B visa approvals for India’s top six IT firms fell 40% year-on-year to 11,041 as of 31 March

- jas bardia

The Trump administration is planning to change the definition of specialty occupations for H-1B visas.

(BLOOMBERG)

For the 1.9 million employees at India’s top IT services firms, the American dream is getting harder to pursue.

The companies’ H-1B visa approvals have fallen sharply this year as the Donald Trump administration tightens rules around work visas and green cards, pushing the industry towards more offshore work from India and greater local hiring in the US.

According to official US data, India's six largest information technology services firms—Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, Wipro Ltd and Tech Mahindra Ltd—were given 11,041 H-1B visas as of 31 March, down 40% from a year earlier, when these firms collectively got about 18,469 visas. H-1B visas allow Indians to temporarily work in the US in specialized occupations including IT services.

To be sure, the US federal government follows an October to September financial calendar. Of total visa count, Infosys, India's second-largest IT services firm got 3,195 approvals, the highest among top six IT and the only one to get more approvals than in FY25.