2.8L Indian jobs on the line as Trump slaps $1L H-1B fee

THE Trump administration on Saturday imposed a fee of $1,00,000 per year on each H-1B visa holder, dealing a body blow to the 2,83,397 (71%) skilled technology workers from India, as per 2024 data. At 71%, India was the largest beneficiary of H-1B last year, while China was a distant second at 12%.

- SANAL SUDEVAN/DIPAK MONDAL

“We need great workers, and this pretty much ensures that that’s what’s going to happen,” Trump said at the Oval Office as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stood by. The new rule would raise the cost of sponsoring an Indian H-1B worker from the current $215 to a staggering $100,000 per year or up to $600,000 over a six-year visa period. The administration says the fee is designed to ensure that only “extraordinary” workers are let in.

TCS accounted for over 5,505 H-1B visas granted for fiscal year 2025 (October 2024-September 2025), followed by Cognizant (3,700), Infosys (2,004), LTIMindtree (1,807), and HCL Tech (1,728). In 2025, TCS was the second-largest recipient of H-1B visas after Amazon, which received approvals for 10,000.