$100,000 H-1B Fee: IT Lobby Nasscom Evaluating Implications Of Donald Trump’s Fresh Move | Business News

US President Donald Trump’s latest move will hit Indian IT services firms the hardest, as they are among the largest users of H-1B visas. (File Photo: AP)

The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) is evaluating the implications of US President Donald Trump’s executive order that imposes an annual fee of $100,000 on H-1B visas, a move seen as a major setback for the Indian technology sector and professionals working in the US.

According to Moneycontrol, the industry body said, “We are currently assessing this, and if there is a comment, we will release a statement.”

However, an official response is still awaited.

H-1B visas allow American companies to hire foreign workers in specialised fields such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and IT. With Indian professionals forming the largest group of H-1B recipients, the new measure is expected to have wide-ranging consequences for both companies and workers.

According to a Moneycontrol report, the Indian government is also examining the fallout. A senior official said New Delhi is in touch with the Indian Embassy in Washington and consulting Nasscom. “There will be an immediate fallout. We have to see how companies adapt to it,” the official said, adding that the added costs may weigh more heavily on US tech companies that depend on Indian talent.

At the same time, officials see a possible silver lining. “In a positive sense, more companies will be setting up global capability centres (GCCs) to meet the shortage of talent,” the official said, according to Moneycontrol. The government also anticipates that Trump’s proclamation could face legal challenges in the US due to its broad implications for employers and foreign workers.

Indian IT firms have already been diversifying away from H-1B dependency in recent years by stepping up local hiring in the US data from the National Foundation for American Policy shows that approved H-1B petitions for initial employment from the top seven Indian IT companies dropped 56 per cent between FY15 and FY23, falling from 15,100 to 6,700.

In a move that could adversely impact Indian professionals on visas in the US, President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that will raise the fee for H1-B visas to a staggering $100,000 annually, the latest in the administration’s efforts to crack down on immigration.

Until now, H-1B visas have carried various administrative fees totalling around $1,500.

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

US President Donald Trump’s latest move will hit Indian IT services firms the hardest, as they are among the largest users of H-1B visas.