Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with over 5,000 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon, according to federal data.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Amazon had 10,044 workers using H-1B visas as of June, 2025. Coming in at the second spot was TCS with 5,505 H-1B visas approved.

Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5,189), Meta (5,123), Apple (4,202), Google (4,181), Deloitte (2,353), Infosys (2,004), Wipro (1,523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).

In a move that could significantly impact Indian IT and professional workers in the U.S., the Trump administration announced a staggering annual fee of $1,00,000 on H-1B visas, a move it said aims to check the “systemic abuse” of the programme.

In July, USCIS had said that it has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year 2026.  

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ on Friday (September 19, 2025) that will restrict entry into the United States of individuals as non-immigrants unless their H-1B petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $1,00,000.

The proclamation said the restriction shall expire, absent extension, 12 months after the effective date of this proclamation of September 21, 2025.

The proclamation said that the number of foreign STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workers in the United States has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, increasing from 1.2 million to almost 2.5 million, while overall STEM employment has only increased 44.5% during that time. 

Among computer and math occupations, the foreign share of the workforce grew from 17.7% in 2000 to 26.1% in 2019. The key facilitator for this influx of foreign STEM labour has been the abuse of the H-1B visa, it said.

The proclamation added that Information technology firms have “prominently manipulated” the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields.  

The share of IT workers in the H-1B programme grew from 32% in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 to an average of over 65 per cent in the last 5 fiscal years. In addition, some of the most prolific H-1B employers are now consistently IT outsourcing companies.  

Using these H 1B-reliant IT outsourcing companies provides significant savings for employers, it said, as it cited a study of tech workers that showed a 36% discount for H-1B “entry-level” positions as compared to full-time, traditional workers. 

To take advantage of artificially low labour costs incentivised by the programme, companies close their IT divisions, fire their American staff, and outsource IT jobs to lower-paid foreign workers, it said.

The proclamation cited data that said many American tech companies have laid off their qualified and highly skilled American workers and simultaneously hired thousands of H-1B workers.  

One software company was approved for over 5,000 H-1B workers in FY 2025; around the same time, it announced a series of layoffs totalling more than 15,000 employees. Another IT firm was approved for nearly 1,700 H-1B workers in FY 2025; it announced it was laying off 2,400 American workers in Oregon in July. 

A third company has reduced its workforce by approximately 27,000 American workers since 2022, while being approved for over 25,000 H-1B workers since FY 2022. 

A fourth company reportedly eliminated 1,000 jobs in February; it was approved for over 1,100 H-1B workers for FY 2025, the proclamation said.

Published – September 20, 2025 11:34 am IST

U.S. President Donald Trump said abuse of the H-1B programme is a national security threat as he signed a proclamation restricting entry of certain non-immigrant workers and imposing a staggering annual $1,00,000 fee on the visas used by companies to hire workers, including from India, to live and work in the U.S.

Mr. Trump on Friday (September 19, 2025) signed the proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain non-immigrant workers’ that restricts the entry into the U.S. of those workers whose H-1B petitions are not accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $1,00,000.

“The H-1B non-immigrant visa programme was created to bring temporary workers into the United States to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labour,” Mr. Trump said in the proclamation.

“The abuse of the H-1B programme is also a national security threat. Domestic law enforcement agencies have identified and investigated H-1B-reliant outsourcing companies for engaging in visa fraud, conspiracy to launder money… and other illicit activities to encourage foreign workers to come to the United States,” he said in the proclamation.

Mr. Trump said that it is necessary to impose higher costs on companies seeking to use the H-1B programme in order to address the abuse of that programme while still permitting companies to hire the best of the best temporary foreign workers.

“The severe harms that the large-scale abuse of this programme has inflicted on our economic and national security demand an immediate response. I therefore find that the unrestricted entry into the United States of certain foreign workers” would be detrimental to the interests of the United States because such entry would harm American workers, including by undercutting their wages,” the proclamation said.

Mr. Trump ordered that the Secretary of Homeland Security shall restrict decisions on petitions not accompanied by a $1,00,000 payment for H-1B speciality occupation workers, who are currently outside the United States, for 12 months following the effective date of the proclamation, which is September 21, 2025.

The Secretary of State shall also issue guidance, as necessary and to the extent permitted by law, to prevent misuse of B visas by alien beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions that have an employment start date beginning prior to October 1, 2026.

It said the restrictions shall not apply to any individual or those working for a company or in an industry, if it is determined that the hiring of such individuals to be employed as H-1B speciality occupation workers is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State shall coordinate to take all necessary and appropriate action to implement this proclamation and to deny entry to the United States to any H-1B non-immigrant for whom the prospective employer has not made the payment.

The restriction on entry shall apply only to those individuals who enter or attempt to enter the United States after September 21, 2025.

Mr. Trump said the large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the programme has undermined both American economic and national security.

“Some employers, using practices now widely adopted by entire sectors, have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labour market for American citizens, while at the same time making it more difficult to attract and retain the highest skilled subset of temporary workers, with the largest impact seen in critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields,” Mr. Trump said.

The proclamation said that Information technology firms in particular have prominently manipulated the H-1B system, significantly harming American workers in computer-related fields.

Noting that the share of IT workers in the H-1B programme grew from 32% in Fiscal Year 2003 to an average of over 65% in the last 5 fiscal years, the proclamation said that some of the most prolific H-1B employers are now consistently IT outsourcing companies.

It said that abuse of the H-1B visa programme has made it even more challenging for college graduates trying to find IT jobs, allowing employers to hire foreign workers at a significant discount to American workers.

The proclamation cited high unemployment rates among computer science and computer engineering majors and said many American tech companies have laid off their qualified and highly skilled American workers and simultaneously hired thousands of H-1B workers.

The proclamation also cited the example of a software company that was approved for over 5,000 H-1B workers in FY 2025, and which, around the same time, announced a series of layoffs totalling more than 15,000 employees.

It also said that American IT workers have reported they were forced to train the foreign workers who were taking their jobs and to sign nondisclosure agreements about this “indignity” as a condition of receiving any form of severance.

Published – September 20, 2025 11:00 am IST

U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to sign a proclamation as early as Friday restricting entry under the H-1B visa program unless the fee is paid. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Days after vowing to “go to war” to defend the H-1B visas, tech billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday said the system, which is used to bring skilled foreign workers to the US, is “broken” and needs a “major reform”.

Mr Musk and Indian-American tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have recently clashed with supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump over the issue of immigration.

Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy, who are set to be part of the incoming Trump administration, have backed the H-1B visa program.

Posting on X, the social media site he owns, Mr Musk, who himself migrated from South Africa on an H-1B, said he has “been very clear” that the program is “broken” and “needs major reform”.

He was responding to a user who said the US needs to be a destination for the “world’s most elite talent”, but the H-1B program “isn’t the way to do that”.

Mr Musk said it can be “easily fixed” by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H-1B, making it “materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically”.

Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.

I’ve been very clear that the program is broken and needs major reform.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2024

Last week, Mr Musk said bringing elite engineering talent from abroad was “essential for America to keep winning.”

Mr Ramaswamy, the son of Indian immigrants, also echoed Mr Musk’s sentiments. He argued that the US culture has long celebrated “mediocrity over excellence”.

“A culture that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ… will not produce the best engineers,” he posted on X.

Debate Over H-1B Visas

The debate over H-1B visas began after Laura Loomer, a right-wing influencer, criticised Donald Trump’s selection of Indian-American entrepreneur Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence policy in his coming administration.

Ms Loomer, along with far-right figures like Ann Coulter and former Congressman Matt Gaetz, accused Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy of undermining American workers.

One viral post on X accused Mr Krishnan as an “India First” operative whose goal was to “replace American workers.”

“Looking forward to the inevitable divorce between President Trump and Big Tech,” Ms Loomer, a MAGA figure known for her conspiracy theories, said.

“We have to protect President Trump from the technocrats,” she said.

Mr Musk fired back at his critics and warned of a “MAGA civil war.”

He also swore at one critic, saying, “I will go to war on this issue.”

Trump Backs Musk In H-1B Visa Debate

Donald Trump has sided with Elon Musk in a public dispute over the use of the H-1B visa, saying he fully backs the program for foreign tech workers opposed by some of his supporters.

Trump, who moved to limit the visas’ use during his first presidency, told The New York Post on Saturday he was likewise in favour of the visa program.

“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” he was quoted as saying.

New Delhi:

The US mission in India on Friday said it issued more than one million nonimmigrant visas for the second year in a row, including a record number of visitor visas, underscoring the huge demand of Indians for travel to the US.

Washington is also working to formally establish a US-based to renew H-1B visas in that country in 2025 that is expected to benefit a significant number of Indians.

In the past four years, visitor numbers from India have increased by five times, and more than two million Indians travelled to the US in the first 11 months of 2024, a 26 per cent increase over the same period in 2023, it said.

Over five million Indians already have a nonimmigrant visa to visit the US and each day the mission issues thousands more, the embassy said.

“The US mission to India issued more than one million nonimmigrant visas for the second year in a row, including a record number of visitor visas, underscoring the huge demand of Indians for travel to the United States for tourism, business, and education,” it said in a readout.

The embassy noted that the State Department completed a successful pilot programme to renew H-1B visas in the US States this year.

This allowed many specialty occupation workers from India to renew their visas without leaving the US.

“This pilot program streamlined the renewal process for thousands of applicants, and the Department of State is working to formally establish a US-based renewal program in 2025,” it said.

The US mission to India issued tens of thousands of immigrant visas, facilitating legal family reunification and the migration of skilled professionals, according to the readout.

These immigrant visa holders became permanent residents upon their arrival, adding to the already rich and sizable Indian diaspora community in the US, it said.

The US mission to India also provided more than 24,000 passports and other consular services to American citizens living and travelling in India, it noted.

A new version of the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) debuted in 2024, making it easier for the embassy and consulates to contact American citizens during emergencies and send them safety and security alerts, the embassy added.

It said increase in processing of thousands of interview waiver-eligible nonimmigrant visa applications each week made it quicker and easier than ever for Indians to renew their nonimmigrant visas.

“By streamlining operations and utilizing global consular resources, the US mission has been able to redirect its own resources to focus on in-person interviews, reducing wait times for all applicants,” it said.

The mission also provided details about visas issued to Indian students.

“More Indian students than ever before now have U.S. student visas. In 2024, India became the top sender of international students for the first time since the 2008/2009 academic year with more than 331,000 students overall studying in the US,” it said.

It further added that India also remained the largest sender of international graduate students in the US for the second year.

Indian graduate student numbers increased by 19 per cent to reach almost 200,000 students, according to the details.

“Many exchange visitors will now be able to remain in the United States and not need to return home for two years after completing their programmes in the US, offering them more opportunities to further their careers and education,” the embassy said.

“The removal of India from the Exchange Visitors Skills List has provided greater flexibility for these Indian J-1 nonimmigrant visa holders,” it said.

The US mission said it remains dedicated to fostering strong bilateral relations and providing exceptional consular services.

“These achievements over the past year are a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Mission’s staff and the enduring partnership between the United States and India,” it said. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

As the U.S. gears to elect a new President in a month, the head of a leading organisation for Indian-origin physicians has called for the next administration to prioritise immigration and healthcare reforms and fast-track green cards for medical professionals from India.

President of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) Dr Satheesh Kathula told PTI in an exclusive interview that healthcare access for all people, immigration and visa issues, technology in medicine, diversity and anti-discrimination are some of the issues that should be given priority by the next White House administration.

Founded in 1982, AAPI is the largest ethnic medical organisation representing the interests of over 1,20,000 physicians of Indian origin in the U.S. Dr. Kathula highlighted that there are many physicians who are still on H-1B work visas even after staying in the U.S. for over 15-20 years.

“We have to fast track their green cards to ensure they can live in the U.S. and continue their work without worrying about their visa status,” he said, noting that many of these physicians are serving in very underserved areas across the country.

There are thousands of physicians on the H-1B work visa who are serving in places where local doctors don’t want to go, he added.

“If they really leave, then the whole healthcare system collapses in some towns. So that’s why we have to really fast-track green cards and prioritise this. Any government that takes over, this is very important,” he said.

He lamented that physicians are pooled with other H-1B visa holders, including those in fields such as technology.

“That’s what makes it difficult. There should be some priority for people who are actually taking care of sick people,” Dr. Kathula said, highlighting that one in every seventh patient in the U.S. is seen by a doctor of Indian origin. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries such as India and China.

Dr. Kathula said there are some communities in the U.S. that are totally dependent on H-1B visa physicians.

He also pointed to the need to address physician shortage, “because we do not have enough physicians in some areas. The nurse practitioners and physician assistants are really helping, but I think we need more physicians.” He said that it is estimated that by 2030, “we will need about 125,000 physicians in this country.” “That’s why we need to increase the residency positions, work on medical education, opening more medical schools,” he added.

Dr. Kathula stressed that international medical graduates who come to the U.S. should be given importance to enable them to work and serve communities in the country.

Issues of anti-discrimination and diversity should also be addressed by the next American president and his or her administration.

The U.S. Presidential elections are just a month away with America set to vote on November 5 between Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.

Dr. Kathula added that the next White House administration should also give priority to technology in medicine, ensure proper funding for it, research and innovative care delivery models.

“All these things should be given priority by the next government. That’s what AAPI is looking at, and AAPI members are looking at,” he said.

The next President should also work on healthcare reforms, affordable healthcare, improving public health infrastructure, economic growth, job creation, rebuilding infrastructure, ensuring affordable education, racial and social justice, and immigration reforms.

“Fair human immigration system should be given priority. Bring people who are skilled workers and it’s important that we fast track their immigration,” he said.

Dr. Kathula, a board-certified haematologist and oncologist from Ohio, assumed charge as the 43rd President of AAPI in July this year. Highlighting the role and contribution of the Indian diaspora in the U.S., he said it is “just mind-boggling” to see the growth of the Indian diaspora in this country in the last 30 years.” People of Indian origin are making a mark in every field and have been very influential. They contribute to the economy in many ways, he said.

Describing AAPI as one of the most influential organisations, he said its physicians have contributed enormously to help causes not just in the U.S. but significantly in India as well, especially during the Covid pandemic. It raised over five million dollars and sent thousands of concentrators, ventilators, and other important protective gear and medical equipment during the crisis years of the pandemic. 

Dr. Kathula stressed that the relationship between India and the U.S. has been very strategic. He said that both nations share concerns about China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, and the U.S. will “continue to support India’s role as a key player in ensuring the security and stability in that region.” On diaspora diplomacy, he said the Indian diaspora in America is influential and will continue to strengthen the relationship between Washington and Delhi.

“Overall, the trajectory of the India and US relationship under the next administration [in the U.S.] is expected to remain positive, with a continued focus on defence, trade, climate change, technology and shared democratic values,” he said.

“While some challenges may arise, particularly around trade disputes or human rights, the strategic importance of the relationship will ensure continued cooperation and growth,” he added.