Top Indian IT services companies are steadily cutting their dependence on H-1B visas, even as the United States raised the visa fee to $100,000 on September 20.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra now have H-1B dependency levels ranging from 20 percent to under 50 percent for their North American operations.
The H-1B programme allows US firms to hire foreign professionals in specialised fields such as STEM and IT. However, between FY15 and FY23, approved H-1B petitions for the top seven Indian IT firms dropped by 56 percent to 6,700. Today, companies like Infosys and TCS employ more than 50 percent local staff in the US, reducing visa reliance significantly.
Large IT companies have shifted towards local hiring, building US delivery centres, subcontracting, and offshore delivery models to reduce dependence on H-1B visas.
- TCS, which generates nearly half its revenue from North America, now hires over 50 percent of its US workforce locally. The company receives about 3,000–4,000 H-1B visas annually.
- Infosys employs more than 60 percent local staff in the US, and its on-site H-1B mix fell from around 30 percent to 24 percent in FY25.
- HCLTech and Wipro have the lowest reliance, with nearly 80 percent of their US workforce hired locally. HCLTech uses only 500–1,000 H-1Bs annually.
- Tech Mahindra keeps its visa reliance below 30 percent, supported by large local teams and near-shore centres.
Despite reduced reliance by Indian IT firms, demand for H-1B visas remains strong. USCIS data shows that in 2024, applications rose by 3.1 percent, approvals by 4 percent, and denials dropped by 32.5 percent compared to 2023. The approval rate reached 98.4 percent, the highest since 2021.
Interestingly, the biggest users of H-1B visas are now US tech majors, not Indian outsourcing firms. In FY24, the top five American firms together received nearly 28,000 approvals, with one e-commerce giant alone securing 10,000 approvals in FY25. These visas are primarily used for specialised, high-paying technology roles such as AI engineers and data scientists, reflecting ongoing talent shortages in the US.
