When US President Donald Trump announced the recent H-1B $100,000 proclamation, one thing became clear — it would significantly restrict the entry of H-1B visa holders into the tech industry. The once straightforward path to the ‘American Dream’ for many tech professionals is now far more challenging.
In response, several major tech firms, including TCS, Wipro, and Infosys, have clarified their stance and outlined new strategies on the future of H-1B employment within their organisations.
What is the $100k H-1B proclamation?
On September 19, Trump signed an order imposing a $100,000 application fee on companies applying for new H-1B visas. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained the reasoning behind the new fee, calling the H-1B visa the “most abused” immigration program.
He said the fee would discourage companies from relying on foreign workers and push them to hire recent graduates from US universities instead.
TCS ‘focusing on growing workforce locally’
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO K Krithivasan announced that the company is not planning to hire any new H-1B visa applicants. In an interview with Times of India, he stated that TCS will focus on growing its workforce through local talent instead.
TCS has been the leading employer of H-1B holders in the US, hiring a total of 98,259 H-1B workers between 2009 and 2025. In 2025 alone, the company brought on 5,505 H-1B employees, surpassing even major tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google in H-1B hiring.
Krithivasan said, “We have enough people on H-1 already in the US. I don’t think we would be looking for adding to that count anytime now (sic).” Speaking about renewal of existing H-1B visas, he said, “Our original plan was always to send people on H-1 with the intention of bringing them back and rotating them. So it continued to focus on bringing back at the end of the programmes, or rotating them with locals. And how much we would renew or whom we would renew is a call we will take at the appropriate time. We are looking to increase our local participation.”
Wipro says ‘not dependent on H-1B visas’
Wipro CEO and Managing Director Srinivas Pallia addressed concerns and said, “H-1B has no impact on us. We are not dependent on H-1B visas.” During the company’s post-results press conference, Chief Human Resources Officer Saurabh Govil reinforced this stance, saying, “Over the last few years, we have had a very focused and purposeful approach towards localisation. Nearly 80 per cent of our US employee base are locals.”
People requiring sponsorship for immigration are ‘minority’ at Infosys
Infosys CEO Salil Parekh on Thursday spoke at the company’s press conference after declaring the results. “In our US workforce, the number of people requiring sponsorship for immigration are a minority. We have set up a large number of centers and hubs focused on digital innovation, technology and AI in the US,” Parekh said.
“We have relationships with universities and have training facilities there. With all of that in mind, we are clear today that we will work with our clients without any disruptions. We don’t have any specific numbers to share there,” he added.
In January, Infosys stated a sharp decline in its dependence on H-1B visas, revealing that more than 60 percent of its US workforce now consists of local employees. The remarks from Parekh came just a month after the proclamation.