H-1B visa fees hike: Nasscom urges member companies to bring staff back to US; Trump’s September 21 deadline looms

Industry physique, Nasscom, has urged its member companies to bring back H-1B workers caught outdoors the United States earlier than new visa payment guidelines come into drive.The warning comes with only a day left earlier than the US raises the price of making use of for an H-1B visa to $100,000, a transfer that might severely disrupt companies.Shivendra Singh, vp of Nasscom, mentioned on Saturday that the hike had created confusion and left companies with little or no time to react.“This particular move has come at a time when the technology is evolving at such a rapid pace, with AI and other front-end technologies gaining space to make the US the number one economy and the need to sustain American innovation leadership. This is something which is going to disrupt the system for some time, given the fact that not enough transition time was given. It was one day’s deadline for professionals to return,” he informed PTI.Singh added, “We’ve recommended our member companies that they should make efforts to get their employees who are outside the US to return before the 21st of September. And so that is an advice.”Nasscom mentioned that extra discussions with trade have been wanted earlier than such an enormous change. Singh confused that Indian staff make up over 70% of H-1B visa holders. “It goes to Indian companies, it goes a lot to the US companies as well. And Indian nationals are chosen because they have the skill set, and that is why they are in high demand from across the world,” he mentioned.The physique warned that Indian IT corporations may see onshore tasks thrown off track, forcing companies and shoppers to regulate. “While we are reviewing the finer details of the order, adjustments of this nature can potentially have ripple effects on America’s innovation ecosystem and the wider job economy,” Nasscom mentioned in an announcement.The order was signed by US President Donald Trump on Friday, pushing the annual visa payment up from the present vary of $2,000–5,000 to $100,000.The H-1B programme is standard with Indian professionals, who make up the vast majority of its world consumption. Each yr, 650,000 visas are issued, together with 20,000 further for candidates with superior US levels.Data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reveals that for FY25, Amazon had essentially the most approvals with 10,044. Tata Consultancy Services got here second with 5,505, adopted by Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202) and Google (4,181). Other high recipients embrace Cognizant (2,493), JP Morgan Chase (2,440), Walmart (2,390) and Deloitte Consulting (2,353). Infosys (2,004), LTIMindtree (1,807) and HCL America (1,728) have been additionally within the high 20.The visa shock has hit India’s $283-billion IT companies sector at a time when it’s already below stress from consumer cutbacks, commerce tensions, geopolitical dangers and speedy technological modifications led by AI.(*21*)There are additionally issues over the Halting International Relocation of Employment (HIRE) Act, launched by Senator Bernie Moreno. If authorized, it might slap a 25% levy on funds made by American corporations to abroad staff, to encourage hiring throughout the US.