Clarification on H-1B fee has eased immediate concerns for Indian tech professionals, says NASSCOM

National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), on Monday (September 22, 2025) issued a statement after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) clarified on the U.S. Donald Trump’s proclamation of hiking the H-1B visa fee to $100,000.

In a FAQ, USCIS said that the September 19 proclamation took an “important, initial, and incremental step” to reform the H-1B visa programme to curb abuses and protect American workers.

The NASSCOM statement further said “On September 20, 2025, the White House issued clarifications on the recent proclamation introducing a $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications. The clarification makes clear that the measure will not affect current visa holders and will apply as a one-time fee only to fresh petitions. This has helped address the immediate ambiguity surrounding eligibility and timelines. This alleviates concerns on business continuity and uncertainty for H-1B holders that were outside the U.S.”

It further added “Moreover, with the fee being applicable from 2026 onward, gives companies time to further step up skilling programs in US and enhance local hiring. The industry is spending more than a billion dollars on local upskilling and hiring in the US, and the number of local hires has increased tremendously.”

The Nasscom said “Over the years, Indian and India-centric companies operating in the U.S. have significantly reduced their dependencies on H-1B visas and steadily increased their local hiring. As per available data, H-1B issued to the leading India and India centric companies has decreased from 14792 in 2015 to 10162 in 2024. H-1B workers for the top 10 Indian and India centric companies are less than 1% of their entire employee base. Given this trajectory, we anticipate only a marginal impact for the sector.”

The statement said “H- 1B is high skilled worker mobility and a non-immigrant visa that bridges critical skills gap in the US. Salaries are at par with local hires. Moreover, H-1B workers are a mere decimal point of overall U.S. workforce.”

Nasscom has consistently advocated for predictable and stable skilled talent mobility frameworks, which are critical for sustaining national competitiveness and have long fuelled U.S. 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.