Tech companies such as Amazon and Google could find themselves in a tight spot if US President Donald Trump tightens H-1B visa controls in the coming months. The US government has also revoked hundreds of visas and paused green card applications in recent weeks — prompting many of these companies to warn such employees against international travel.
Politicians across the spectrum have called for the specialised visa program to be tightened in recent years — to save American workers from being sidelined. Members of the Trump government remain divided on the matter with key figures pushing for severe restrictions while others including Tesla CEO Elon Musk pushing for the system to be preserved. Donald Trump himself appears to have changed his mind over the past decade after calling it a “cheap labour program” and vowing to end it ‘forever’ in 2016.
“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” he insisted soon after winning the US Presidency in 2024.
The US government announced significant changes to the highly sought after visa program in mid-January — streamlinging the approval process and putting more ‘effective’ processes in place. The annual quota of new H-1B visas (distributed through a lottery system) is currently capped at 85,000. More than two-thirds of these coveted documents go to tech workers every year with Indians securing around 72% of H-1B visas.
Data shared on the US Citizenship and Immigration Services website indicates that Amazon led the list in 2024 — approving 9,265 beneficiaries. Many of its subsidiaries including Amazon Web Services and Amazon Development Center also obtained H-1B visas. Infosys was a distant second with 8140 H-1B visa approvals during the same time period while fellow tech giants Google, Meta, Microsoft and Apple joined the top 10 with several thousand beneficiaries each.