Key Highlights
- Introduction
- A Decade-Long Slide: Numbers Speak Loud
- Why the Drop? Policy Tightening and Rising Costs
- What’s Happening Behind The Numbers: Changing Employer Behaviour
- Real-World Impact: Indian IT Firms in Transition
- Why Are U.S. Companies Gaining While Indian Firms Lose Out?
- What This Means for Indian IT Industry Strategy
- Broader Implications: The American Dream Gets Rewritten
- Conclusion
The recent visa approvals by the H-1B visa program have reached their lowest in a decade, a huge blow to Indian technology services companies. A recent study by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) found that the top seven Indian IT companies collectively received 4,573 new H-1B approvals in fiscal year 2025, which is a drastic drop of 70% from the performance by these companies in 2015 and 37% from the performance in 2024. This dramatic drop is indicative of the overall effect of the new U.S. visa policies, increased price and preference changes by employers, redefining the global tech labour movements.
A Decade-Long Slide: Numbers Speak Loud
The most recent H-1B approvals of the seven highest Indian IT companies are down to 4,573 new H-1B awards in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) employer data hub, as per the NFAP data.
- This is a 70 per cent decrease in comparison to about 15,270 approvals as it was recorded in 2015.
- The decline is also dramatic compared with FY 2024; the decrease in new approvals was 37%.
- The sudden drop is an indicator of an operational change: Indian IT companies that have been high consumers of H-1B now find their privileges sharply curtailed in the new visa landscape.
Also Read: US Visa Rules: India's Third-Country Application Era Ends
Why the Drop? Policy Tightening and Rising Costs
This downward trend is being caused by a number of factors which are interrelated:
• Stricter Definitions & Higher Scrutiny
In early 2025, the U.S. added new H-1B regulations, which redefined the concept of speciality jobs, refined the requirements of the degree and role relevance, and raised the compliance expectations of employers.
The impact: most of the job positions previously eligible under H-1B are now scrutinised more closely, making it difficult to approve.
• A New $100,000 Fee for New Petitions
Fresh petitions for the H-1B were also imposed with a fee of US$100,000 in September 2025. This significantly raises the price of the sponsorship of foreign employees holding H-1B visas, which makes many companies reconsider their approach to hiring and on-site deployment of employees.
• Shift in Employer Preference
As visa approvals are seen to be uncertain and costly, U.S.-based technology companies - Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Google have dominated new H-1B approvals, taking over Indian companies first.
In the meantime, Indian IT companies are increasingly turning to the renewal of visas of the existing personnel instead of the sponsorship of newcomers.
What’s Happening Behind The Numbers: Changing Employer Behaviour?
Why is employer behaviour changing?
Continuing-Employment vs. New Approvals
New Indian IT company H-1B approvals have decreased significantly, but continuing-employment (i.e. extension petitions as applied by workers on H-1B visas) is relatively steady. Continuing-employment petitions granting USCIS approval have been 291,542 in FY 2025 - a low overall refusal rate of 1.9.
For Indian firms:
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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) received 5,293 renewal approvals.
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Infosys, Wipro and LTIMindtree were other companies that had low extension-denial rates (12%).
It means a strategic shift: instead of inviting new workers to the U.S., Indian companies have been more concerned with keeping the current ones, as well.
- Onsite Hiring & Local Workforce Strategy
- Due to the increased difficulty and cost of H-1B approvals, several Indian firms are now increasing local recruitment in the U.S. or Indian offshore delivery to U.S. project requirements.
- Consequently, the conventional pattern of the movement of Indian engineers to the U.S. client locations, which is a standardised activity of the offshore outsourcing sector, is being challenged.
Also Read: Indian IT Industry Targets New Markets Amid Trump 2.0 H-1B Visa Changes
Real-World Impact: Indian IT Firms in Transition
Impact on IT firms in India:
TCS, LTIMindtree, Infosys, Wipro — Who's Been Hit Hardest
TCS is the only Indian giant that has featured among the top five companies to make continuing-employment approvals in FY 2025.
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In new (initial) H-1B petitions that TCS received, only 846 approvals were received in FY 2025, compared to 1,452 in 2024.
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New H-1B filings at companies such as LTIMindtree and HCL America experienced about a half reduction.
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Infosys, Wipro and LTIMindtree have low rates of rejecting renewal (1–2), which means that current visa holders might be safe in the near future.
Indian Engineers: Dream Deferred?
The new statistics are a dampener to the hopes of many Indian technicians who have ambitions of working in the U.S. New entrants will have limited opportunities due to the shrinking number of new, fresh H-1B approvals.
Simultaneously, the currently present H-1B visa holders already in the U.S. or who can be renewed have no end of doubt about being able to be renewed again in the future, as the rejection rates in certain companies (at least, TCS) are on the increase.
Cost-benefit analysis of sponsoring new H-1Bs is becoming different in companies. The additional cost of the 100,000, plus the extra attention to be paid to it, and the time it will take to process will render the traditional model less appealing.
Why Are U.S. Companies Gaining While Indian Firms Lose Out?
The shifting trend in H-1B approvals mirrors even greater trends in world technology hiring:
- Major U.S. technology companies are seeking foreign workers, in particular, new graduates or experts in the field of AI, data science, and cloud positions.
- To them, the excessive charge and compliance cost can be justified, as the roles are very important. In contrast, Indian outsourcing companies commonly depend on an inexpensive, high-volume workforce or staffing, which is not so viable under the new regulations.
- What it means is that Indian companies are falling behind in U.S.-onshore employment, and U.S. corporations are cementing their positions.
What does this mean for the Indian IT Industry Strategy?
What does this mean for the Indian IT industry?
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Increased U.S. Hiring Locally - As Indian companies strive to meet global delivery requirements, they will probably hire more Americans or permanent residents to decrease onsite staffing caused by H-1B.
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Greater Offshore Delivery- A shift towards more work-from-India or nearshore models, with little dependency on U.S. visas.
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Emphasis on Domestic Recruiting and Talent Accumulation - With mobility to foreign markets declining, Indian firms can increase their domestic hiring, invest in employee training, and establish local networks of delivery.
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Selective Sponsorship - The companies can choose to sponsor fewer, more valuable visas (e.g. critical positions), but not high-volume staffing of numerous low-cost positions.
Also Read: Visa Fees for All Countries from India: Latest Guide
Broader Implications: The American Dream Gets Rewritten
Over the decades, the H-1B programme had served as a route by which Indian engineers could work in the U.S. and earn better wages and later become permanent residents. The sharp decline in new approvals now, with the associated increase in costs and the increased intensity of scrutiny, is indicative of a rewrite of that script.
U.S. tech labour structure is likely to shift towards smaller groups of outsourced employees and a blend of domestic and well-vetted foreign experts. Indian IT firms that are traditionally large exporters of talent are forced to evolve in order to remain relevant in the world.
To a large number of people, the American dream of working can fade away; however, to Indian IT companies, the message is simple: evolve or be left behind.
Conclusion
The Indian IT industry has great hopes of transporting talent to the U.S., but the new data on the FY 2025 gives a chilling forecast to the Indian IT industry. Even the 4,573 new H-1B approvals alone, which is a decade low, highlight radical changes in the immigration policy, hiring tactics, and global outsourcing trends of the U.S. Higher fees and more stringent definitions to more vetting and higher cost reimbursements, the H-1B world is no longer the sure conduit it used to be to Indian companies. This is why a number of businesses are shifting towards renewals, offshore deliveries and local American hiring as opposed to grand-scale fresh visas. To both Indian tech professionals and even companies, this is not a choice of how they fit in this changing landscape but a necessity.
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