Indian IT companies are facing a tougher immigration environment in the US, but the latest H-1B crackdown under President Donald Trump has not caught the industry completely by surprise.
Major Indian technology firms had already been reducing their dependence on new H-1B workers for several years by hiring more employees locally in the US, moving more work offshore and expanding delivery centres in other countries.
According to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy based on USCIS data, the seven largest India-based IT companies received 4,573 approvals for H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY2025. That was 37% lower than FY2024 and around 70% below the level seen in 2015.
The decline was visible across several major companies.
TCS received 846 approvals for initial employment in FY2025, down from 1,452 in FY2024. Cognizant dropped from 2,873 to 743, while HCL America fell from 1,248 to 379. LTIMindtree received 401 approvals compared with 798 a year earlier.
Interestingly, US technology giants continue to receive much larger numbers of new H-1B approvals. Amazon received 4,644 approvals for initial employment in FY2025, followed by Meta with 1,555, Microsoft with 1,394 and Google with 1,050.
Old Indian IT Model Is Changing
For years, Indian IT companies relied heavily on the onsite-offshore model, sending employees from India to work at client locations in the US while keeping a large part of delivery operations in India.
That model has gradually changed.
US clients increasingly want local teams, while Indian IT companies themselves have hired more workers in America and expanded delivery centres in India and nearshore locations such as Canada and Mexico.
Technology changes have also made it easier for more work to be carried out remotely, reducing the need to send large numbers of employees from India to the US.
This does not mean Indian IT companies no longer need H-1B visas. They still depend on them for specialised roles, project transfers and positions requiring employees to work directly with US clients. But H-1B is becoming only one part of a wider workforce strategy.
Trump Policies Could Speed Up the Shift
The Trump administration’s latest measures could accelerate this transition.
The administration had introduced a $100,000 payment requirement for certain new H-1B petitions involving workers entering the US from abroad. A federal court later vacated that requirement, and the government is expected to appeal.
Separately, the Department of Homeland Security has proposed another fee of $103,265 for certain H-1B petitions. That proposal is still going through the rule-making process and has not yet become law.
The earlier fee had a dramatic impact on overseas filings. Initial consular H-1B petitions reportedly fell 91.2% between September 21, 2025 and May 24, 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier.
Since consular petitions generally involve workers applying from outside the US, such a decline is particularly important for Indian IT companies that traditionally moved employees from India to American client locations.
Scrutiny Is Going Beyond Visa Numbers
The crackdown is also no longer limited to H-1B lottery numbers and fees.
The US Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General launched an investigation into alleged fraud, worker exploitation, wage kickbacks and misuse of H-1B and permanent labour certification programmes.
On September 8, Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said Cognizant’s PERM filings had been suspended as part of the investigation. The announcement did not specify the number of applications affected or how long the suspension would continue.
The move indicates that companies could face closer scrutiny over wages, job descriptions, work locations and the actual duties performed by visa workers.
Prepared, But Still Vulnerable
Indian IT companies appear better prepared for tighter US immigration rules than they were a decade ago.
More local hiring, offshore delivery, nearshoring and reduced dependence on new H-1B transfers have given companies more flexibility.
But the risks remain.
Higher visa fees can increase costs, stricter wage rules can make certain roles more expensive, and stronger enforcement can delay filings and increase legal and compliance expenses. Restrictions on green-card processes could also affect employee retention.
The biggest challenge may therefore not be the complete loss of the H-1B route, but the loss of flexibility.
Indian IT companies have traditionally benefited from being able to move skilled employees between India and the US quickly depending on project requirements. Tougher immigration rules could make that model slower, more expensive and more difficult.
In other words, Trump’s H-1B crackdown is hurting Indian IT, but the industry had already started preparing for this change years ago.
The new policies are simply forcing that transition to happen faster.
