By: Express Web DeskNew Delhi | Updated: September 22, 2025 10:55 AM IST 3 min readPresident Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that raises the annual H-1B visa fee to a staggering $100,000. (File)India’s IT industry body Nasscom said Monday that companies are investing more than $1 billion in local upskilling and hiring in the US, with the number of local hires rising sharply, and hence the recent H-1B visa fee hike by the US should have only marginal impact on them.In a September 20 statement, US officials clarified that the fee will apply only to fresh H-1B petitions beginning in 2026, and will not affect current visa holders. The measure will also be levied as a one-time charge, not annually, ending weeks of uncertainty that had clouded the outlook for Indian tech talent working in the United States.“Over the years, Indian and India-centric companies operating in the US have significantly reduced their dependencies on H-1B visas and steadily increased their local hiring,” Nasscom said in a statement.According to the statement, H-1B issued to the leading India and India centric companies has decreased from 14,792 in 2015 to 10,162 in 2024. H-1B workers for the top 10 Indian and India centric companies are less than 1 per cent of their entire employee base.“Given this trajectory, we anticipate only a marginal impact for the sector,” said Nasscom.“Nasscom has consistently advocated for predictable and stable skilled talent mobility frameworks, which are critical for sustaining national competitiveness and have long fuelled US innovation and economic growth. Skilled talent mobility will be central to enabling businesses to make forward-looking investment decisions, accelerate research, and strengthen nations’ position in the global innovation economy,” the statement added.On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation that will raise the fee for such visas to USD 100,000 annually — thereby making it prohibitively expensive for tech companies to hire Indian professionals in the country.Story continues below this adThis move—targeted at curbing the “abuse” of the H-1B visa regime—is potentially going to impact skilled Indian professionals.Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visa. Between October 2022 and September 2023, 72 per cent of the nearly 4 lakh visas issued under the H-1B programme went to Indian nationals. During the same period, the top four Indian IT majors with a presence in the US—Infosys, TCS, HCL, and Wipro—obtained approval for approximately 20,000 employees to work on H-1B visas, according to the latest data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:H-1B