The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on December 23 that new changes to the existing H-1B visa program would entirely do away with its random lottery selection, making way for the new wage-weighted selection. Set to go into effect on February 27, 2026, this policy revision will “prioritise the allocation of nonimmigrant visa to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens to better protect the wages, working conditions, and job opportunities for American workers,” as per the official DHS website.
That is not the only proclamation inflating the H-1B chaos. Back in September, the Donald Trump administration introduced an additional $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications, pushing US employers to reconsider their options. On top of that, enhanced social media vetting for the ‘specialty occupations’ nonimmigrant visa applicants and H-4 dependents prompted visa appointment delays. Consequently, many work visa holders were left stranded overseas, while their employment status in the US also hung in the balance.
Given the prevailing sense of uncertainty that surrounds the H-1B visa program at the moment, immigration experts revealed that American companies are weighing their options and paving the way for alternatives.
US companies turn to alternate visa options amid H-1B chaos
Amid the Trump admin’s H-1B overhaul, immigration attorneys told the Business Insider that while employers haven’t fully given up on H-1B sponsorship, they are also looking at other strategies. These involve turning to different visa options like the O-1, E-2 and L-1.
Rohit Srinivasa, an immigration attorney based in Los Angeles, told BI that he had witnessed a surge of interest in the O-1 visa, which is meant for individuals with “extraordinary ability or achievement.” However, it’s not an easy pathway to crack.
According to the official US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website, “To qualify for an O-1 visa, you must demonstrate extraordinary ability by sustained national or international acclaim, or a record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture and television industry, and must be coming temporarily to the United States to continue work in the area of extraordinary ability.”
As per the BI report, some other founders from countries with US trade treaties were weighing in on E-2 Treaty Investors visa. As per the official USCIS website, qualifying for this nonimmigrant visa classification, the treaty investor must “have invested, or be actively in the process of investing, a substantial amount of capital in a bona fide enterprise in the United States.”
Moreover, the applicant must “be seeking to enter the United States solely to develop and direct the investment enterprise.” The same is foregrounded by presenting at least 50% ownership of the enterprise or possession of operational control through a managerial position or other corporate device.
Spouses and children of E-2 Treaty Investors and Employees may seek the nonimmigrant classification as dependents.
Other than that, the report shared that the EB-1C visa meant for multinational managers and executives was another option. As a component of the Status-Based Green Card (EB) program, this visa category is ultimately granted to those who lead daily operations and management.
According to the Texas-based immigration firm Reddy Neumann Brown PC’s website, “These people are vital to the expansion and development of the global economy and play a crucial role in the success of their organisations.” The BI report further noted that some companies are picking this path to send managers abroad for a year before bringing them back to the US.
And then finally, there is the L-1 visa category, which is designed for intracompany transferees. Through this classification, multinational companies may transfer certain employees from their offices abroad to a temporary US work environment.
US companies expanding their operations overseas
Divij Kishore, an immigration attorney at New York’s Flagship Law, told the Business Insider that certain clients are contacting offshore providers to increase their staffing capacity in case US employers fail to bring visa workers to the US.
“If they can’t spend that same hundred dollars within the US next year, they will spend a hundred dollars outside the US,” he told the outlet.
In addition to Wall Street firms like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs reportedly expanding their operations in Indian cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Big Tech has also been levelling up its hiring abroad.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei previously announced in a blog post that the company would be opening its first India office in Bengaluru early next year. Noting that the nation would “play a central role” in AI’s development, Amodei clearly seems taken over by the need to find technical talent in the country. According to an Economic Times report, AI giant OpenAI has already leased a 50-seat office space in Delhi.
Just this week, a new Moneycontrol report shared that Big Tech firm like Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, and Google (FAAMNG) collectively added 32,000 employees in India in 2025. Consequently, the recorded offshore hiring in India marked an 18% year-on-year surge, with the total workforce in India rising to 214,000, as per the data from specialist staffing firm Xpheno, as accessed by Moneycontrol.
