US President has just shaken up the Tech Industry with the new order. The H-1B visa fees has been hiked by 50 per cent to 100,000 dollars. Primarily, this is aimed to discourage Big Tech Companies like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Meta from hiring foreign workers using H-1B visas. Moreover, this is a major development for an industry that is already facing difficult times due to mass layoffs credited to advancements of AI models.
The American tech industry in 2025 is under immense pressure. Mass layoffs, once an occasional headline, have now become a monthly reality. Indian IT professionals—who have historically depended on H-1B sponsorships for jobs in the U.S.—now face a two-front crisis: fewer job openings and significantly higher barriers to entry.
According to the new Order, the new H-1B visa rule and fees will not apply to existing H-1B holders. It will also not apply to renewals but to fresh applicants in the future. Although this measure was taken to protect American workers. Yet many reports suggest it as a means to curb Indian IT industry. Skilled IT workers have been migrating to the US for decades now, which has helped the American Tech companies. However, this decision has shaken up things both here and abroad.
The Tech Companies that have announced reductions in workforce keeps on growing each month. Some of which are mentioned below. Therefore, for Indian IT workers, the American dream might not really happen.
Google: Google has joined the list too as, more than 200 contract workers have been laid off. These workers were reportedly laid off by GlobalLogic, which is a firm specialising in handling og Google’s AI rating projects. To add to the Psychological pressure of layoffs the contract workers claim, Google used them to train AI models. These advanced and trained models can, in the near future, make the contractual workers’ jobs redundant.
Oracle: US cloud service provider Oracle is continuing its massive job-cut drive across its global workforce. The latest round affected the San Francisco Bay Area, where at least 254 employees were laid off, according to a company filing. Reports indicate that workers in India, Canada, the US, and parts of Europe have also been impacted. Oracle is also laying off 101 employees in Seattle, according to a new filing with the Washington state Employment Security Department.
Salesforce: Salesforce has slashed another 4,000 jobs from its customer support workforce as the tech giant doubles down on artificial intelligence, even as the company reports strong financial results. The latest layoffs gutted Salesforce’s customer service division, reducing its headcount from 9,000 to 5,000. AI agents now reportedly handle about one million customer conversations, as per Al Jazeera.
Intel: In July, it was reported that chipmaker Intel would fire more than 5,500 employees across various states in the United States, according to filings by the company. Earlier estimates had put the number of employees set to be axed at around 4,000. Intel said the staff reduction is “designed to create a faster-moving, flatter and more agile organization.” The tech giant announced the layoffs as part of its plan to reduce its global headcount by 24,000 to 25,000 employees by the end of 2025.
H-1B sponsorships will see a decline?
This H-1B decision for companies with large numbers of coder roles, is changing their math. Suppose a US tech firm needs dozens of software engineers a year. The cost-benefit of sponsoring H-1Bs could now be significantly worse than locating work in India or hiring more remote workers based outside the US. Even accounting for other costs, such as management, infrastructure, and possibly lower per-employee productivity initially, firms may find foreign bases more viable.
Economics of H-1B employees unfavourable?
With coder salaries already high in many US tech hubs, this new H-1B fee turbocharges the pressure on margins. For many firms, especially those leaning heavily on international hires, it may become more economical to invest in offices in India or other countries rather than navigating the new fee regime. The long-term effect may well be a rebalancing in where tech work is done globally—a reshuffle with winners and losers on both sides of the Pacific.
