Are there going to be fewer onsite assignments for Indian professionals in America? And can that lead to a lift for key sectors and battlegrounds within the Indian startup ecosystem? 

These two questions and lots of extra plague 1000’s of Indian engineers and tech professionals after the Donald Trump administration on Friday slapped a $100,000 (round INR 88 Lakh) annual charge on foreigners working within the US on H-1B visa. 

Indians, predominantly tech professionals, make up about 14% of all college-educated international migrants within the US, reveals a research by Migration Coverage Institute. The USCIS mentioned 283,570 Indians obtained the H-1B visa in 2024, accounting for 71% of the entire 399,395 visas Washington issued final yr.

Underneath the brand new H-1B charge construction, which might be efficient from September 21, the sponsoring employer should pay $100,000 as annual cost per visa, in addition to the prevailing charges of $215 for lottery registration and $780 for petition submitting. 

The brand new visa regime takes the price of the H-1B visa to almost $101,000 from $1,700 to $4,500, relying on the employer. The charge is relevant for annually the visa is legitimate, as much as six years.

That is vital by way of remittances, with Indians dwelling within the US sending residence $32 Bn out of a complete influx of $129 Bn in 2024. Making up practically 28% of the kitty, the US is the only largest supply of remittance after the Gulf nations, which generated $49 Bn or 38% of the entire pie.

Trade physique NASSCOM reacted sharply, stating that the changes of this nature might probably have ripple results on America’s innovation ecosystem and the broader job economic system as effectively. “India’s expertise providers corporations can even be impacted as enterprise continuity might be disrupted for onshore initiatives which can require changes,” it mentioned in a press release. 

Trade observers largely imagine that Indian IT professionals are more likely to face decreased alternatives within the US, significantly within the entry-level and mid-level roles. 

American Dream Turns Bitter For Indian Techies 

As the brand new visa regime is more likely to decelerate onsite hiring and, in flip, decrease remittances, there could possibly be the next site visitors in the direction of world functionality centres (GCCs), in accordance with Kamal Karanth, who based Xpheno, a Bengaluru-based expertise options startup. 

“Whereas larger visa prices might decelerate onsite hiring, it can solely speed up the offshoring momentum. MNCs will enhance their reliance on GCC and IT service corporations in India, which stay cost-effective even after factoring in a 25% cess,” he mentioned. Within the close to time period, the businesses might turn into extra aggressive in providing GCC-specific providers, and an elevated provide of expertise might additionally result in softer pricing for GCC staffing.

However, Shyam Nandan Upadhyay, an information centre advisor at American skilled providers agency JLL, has a special view. “It might decelerate out-bound mobility and stress corporations to rely extra on costly native hires within the quick time period which might be more likely to shrink margins by 100-150 foundation factors and add dangers on account of supply,” he advised Inc42. 

“GCCs inside India ought to have the ability to catch a majority of the returning expertise, although integration challenges and elevated wage inflation will create near-term price pressures,” he mentioned.  

Reverse Mind Drain On The Playing cards?

Trade insiders additionally recommend that the charge hike might redirect expertise into the Indian startup ecosystem. Individuals who may need thought of transferring overseas for work might now channel their experience into Indian startups, whereas skilled professionals, together with these laid off or on the lookout for new challenges, are more likely to discover entrepreneurship or consulting ooportunities, which suggests extra expertise flowing into home ventures, in accordance with them. 

“Even startups headquartered within the US however working in India will proceed to entry expertise, whether or not remotely or by short-term enterprise journey,” JLL’s Upadhyay added.

The visa charge hike can have ripple results on US firms as effectively. Though native American jobs might even see short-term development as a consequence of fewer H‑1B hires, corporations with vital operations in expertise, banking, healthcare, and R&D can not simply lower off entry to world expertise. Many corporations might outsource or offload work to India, leveraging the price benefit and deep experience accessible there, in accordance with the trade observers. 

Over the long run, the worldwide working mannequin is more likely to stay largely unchanged, however the Indian IT and expertise providers are poised to learn from elevated offshoring and distant supply.

The visa charge hike can be seen as a possible boon for India’s broader innovation ecosystem. Sanjay Tripathy, founder and chief govt of BRISKPE, a cross-border funds platform, mentioned that the proposed $100,000 visa charge is nothing wanting a wall in opposition to world expertise. “By pricing out the world’s greatest medical doctors, engineers, and innovators, the US dangers stalling its personal engine of innovation,” he mentioned. 

Quite the opposite, Tripathi believes, it can speed up India’s rise because the hub for analysis, patents, and startups. Cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, and Gurugram are prepared to soak up this expertise and channel it into India’s development story. 

Past H-1B: Gold Card Regime Kicks In 

Other than the H-1B visa value amendments, the Trump administration additionally launched a collection of playing cards like Gold Card, Platinum Card, and Company Gold Card programmes. 

The H-1B Gold Card targets people with extraordinary skills or high-impact enterprise contributions, requiring a $1 Mn non-refundable fee. Eligible candidates, those that would qualify beneath EB-1 or EB-2 classes, obtain everlasting residency after vetting, with the identical worldwide revenue tax obligations as US residents. 

Priced at $5 Mn, the Platinum Card affords higher flexibility, together with the power to remain within the US as much as 270 days a yr with out taxation on foreign-earned revenue, although it requires the Congressional approval.

The Company Gold Card permits US-based corporations to sponsor international workers for residency at $2 Mn every. Sponsorship rights will be transferred between workers, enabling firms to handle world expertise strategically. 

Collectively, these programmes change sure employment-based Inexperienced Card classes for distinctive expertise and traders, however impose dramatically larger prices, signalling a shift within the US immigration coverage in the direction of monetary contribution and enterprise impression.

The brand new visa charges are set to have a serious impression on Indian workers working within the US. For corporations like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and world tech giants reminiscent of Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, which collectively sponsor 1000’s of Indian H-1B workers yearly, this can be a big extra price. 

TCS alone, for instance, had 5,505 H-1B visas authorized in 2025, and Amazon had over 10,000. If the businesses proceed to sponsor these numbers, the cumulative price might run into tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} yearly.

Many corporations might reduce on visa purposes or prioritise solely senior, extremely specialised workers to justify the charge. Some Indian workers could also be pushed to return to India, whereas others could possibly be provided distant work or offshore assignments from Indian places of work.

Edited by Kumar Chatterjee