H-1B Visa Fee Proposal Puts Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Tech Mahindra Shares in Focus
Key Takeaways
- •Shares of Infosys, TCS, Wipro and Tech Mahindra are in focus after a proposal to raise fees for the US H-1B skilled-worker visa programme.
- •Indian nationals have received roughly seven in ten H-1B approvals in recent years, according to USCIS data, making Indian IT firms heavy users of the programme.
- •The H-1B programme offers 85,000 new visas annually — 65,000 regular plus 20,000 for advanced US degree holders — while recent cap seasons drew roughly 470,000 or more eligible registrations.
- •The US is the largest market for India's IT services industry, which Nasscom sizes at more than $250 billion in annual revenue and which typically derives around half or more of top exporters' revenue from the US.
- •Existing H-1B filing costs include a $215 registration fee, a $500 fraud-prevention fee, a $1,500 worker-training charge at larger employers and a $600 asylum-programme fee, with additional levies on H-1B-dependent employers; the proposal's final fee levels and legislative fate remain unspecified.
Shares of India's major information technology (IT) services companies — including Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro and Tech Mahindra — are in focus following a proposal to raise fees for the United States' H-1B skilled-worker visa programme.
Indian technology companies have historically been among the biggest users of the H-1B programme, and Indian nationals have consistently received the largest share of H-1B approvals — roughly seven in 10 in recent years, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data — making any sharp increase in visa-related costs an important monitorable for the sector, CNBC-TV18 reported.
What is the H-1B programme?
The H-1B is a non-immigrant US visa that allows employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in "specialty occupations", roles that generally require a university degree or equivalent specialised expertise. The programme is capped at 65,000 new visas each year, with an additional 20,000 slots reserved for applicants holding advanced degrees from US universities. Selections are carried out through an electronic registration process administered by USCIS, and demand routinely outstrips supply: recent cap seasons have drawn roughly 470,000 or more eligible registrations for the 85,000 visas on offer.
Why the fee proposal matters for Indian IT
India's IT services industry — which industry body Nasscom sizes at more than $250 billion in annual revenue — deploys engineers on-site at client locations in the United States, the sector's largest market and typically the source of around half or more of revenue at the biggest listed exporters. The H-1B route has long been one of the main channels for such staffing. US employers already pay several charges when filing H-1B petitions: the registration fee was raised from $10 to $215 in 2024, and filings typically carry a $500 fraud-prevention fee, a $1,500 worker-training charge at larger employers and a $600 asylum-programme fee introduced in April 2024. US rules impose further fees on H-1B-dependent employers above certain size thresholds — a category that covers many large Indian IT firms.
Because visa sponsorship costs recur across large numbers of employees, changes to H-1B fee structures are regarded as a key operational and policy monitorable for the industry. The CNBC-TV18 report did not specify further details of the proposal, leaving its final fee levels and whether it advances into US law as the main points to watch.
Source: CNBC-TV18
